Sarah O’Regan was only 23 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer — twice! Here is her story as well as some tips for checking yourself and places to turn for support or to lend a hand.

Running is a passion for Sarah O’Regan and when she headed to Vancouver after university, O’Regan decided to lace up and take part in triathlons. While running along the west coast, she began to notice pain in her chest and found it difficult to breathe, so she went to her doctor to get to the bottom of it. Thinking the breathing problem was asthma, O’Regan’s results were far from what she expected. At 23 years old O’Regan was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.

“I was sitting there waiting for an inhaler and then they tell you: you have cancer.”

The pain O’Regan was experiencing was caused by a tumor on her sternum bone that was affecting her ability to breathe. O’Regan’s first treatment included rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.

The chances of getting breast cancer in your 20s is 1 in 1,800. But Dr. Maureen Trudeau, breast oncologist and Provincial Head of Cancer Care Ontario’s Systemic Treatment Program, advises women of any age to get to know their breasts so they can detect when something is out of the ordinary.

“[Women] need to know that it can happen so if there are changes that are persisting, have them evaluated by your doctor,” says Trudeau. “Don’t ignore things that are worrisome … it’s always better to get it checked out.”

Breast cancer under 35 tends to be more aggressive depending on the characteristics of the tumor. Young women are more likely to have a triple negative breast cancer (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor and HER-2 negative), which is more aggressive than other tumors.

“One of our goals is to make sure that the public and the health care communities know that young women get breast cancer too. Yes, the numbers are smaller, but the needs are different, the needs are real,” DeCoteau says.

Detecting breast cancer in young women can be difficult as a young woman’s breasts are dense. Trudeau says many women who have “lumpy bumpy breasts” may actually have benign tumors or cysts. You know your body better than anyone so be persistent when something feels wrong.

“If you feel something is wrong, persist. Don’t be deterred. Those are the women I see. The women who have been told ‘Oh, it’s nothing’, for a year and a half and finally it’s something.”

Know your breasts

Rethink Breast Cancer is an organization aimed at helping young people who are concerned or affected by breast cancer. After losing both her mother and grandmother to breast cancer, MJ DeCoteau, director of Rethink wanted information on breast cancer but everything she came across was geared towards older women or contained confusing statistics or medical jargon. Rethink Breast Cancer was born as a way to bridge the information gap with edgy and hip awareness campaigns like their target t-shirts that encourage women to target their breast health.

Trudeau stresses that it is important for women to know their breasts by regularly touching and looking to detect any changes. Rethink Breast Cancer promotes easy-to-understand methods of staying on top of your breast health. For instance, easy tips like TLC – Touch. Look. Check. are some of the simple ways that the organization is putting breast awareness on young women’s radar.

Breast cancer support

One main issue DeCoteau hears from women is a sense of isolation. Many women ask “Why me?” and feel alone as cancer in your 20s is a rarity among many of these women’s peers. But women can also feel isolated among other women who are receiving treatment because many programs are not age specific.

Despite treatment, O’Regan wasn’t out of the woods as the breast cancer reoccurred about a year later. Going through another battle with cancer, O’Regan notes that the journey can be lonely.

“You can feel alone in your 20s when you have it because it’s that stigma that it’s an older woman’s disease,” says O’Regan.

Some of the various ways Rethink Breast Cancer is bringing women together is through their support initiatives like the blog Breast Cancer. Now What? Another program is Support Saturdays, designed for families to learn and discuss the disease with professional facilitators. Support Saturdays is not only flexible, it’s also family-friendly so parents can leave their kids with child care facilitators while they engage in support sessions.

While support is one main drive that helps women fight their battle with cancer, another way women conquer the disease is by giving back through their innovative ideas.

Because O’Regan was living in Vancouver when she was first diagnosed, many of her friends in Toronto wanted to help out, including her friend, Amanda Blakley who decided to host a fundraiser called the Booby Ball. In 2008, the Booby Ball teamed up with Rethink Breast Cancer and created the Booby Innovation Grant. The Booby Innovation Grant helps create new programs while empowering women by giving them a sense of meaning and an outlet to give back to the cause.

O’Regan is now proudly celebrating not only her 30th birthday but her five year anniversary of being cancer-free.

Find out three signs of breast cancer you should not ignore by clicking here.

Cancer Care Ontario recommends that women be breast aware at any age. Here are the breast changes to watch out for:

1.  A lump or dimpling
2. Changes in your nipple or fluid leaking from the nipple
3. Skin changes or redness that do not go away

If you notice any changes, see your health care provider. Most changes are not cancerous but you should have them checked right away. To read more about breast cancer in your 20’s, click here.

A lot of myths go around about what common-law actually is — don’t get your definition of common-law from friends or TV. Here’s how to protect yourself in a common-law relationship.

According to Statistics Canada, nearly 700,000 people in Ontario choose to forego a trip down the aisle and live in a common-law relationship instead.

In Ontario, a Common-law relationship is defined under the family law act as two people, whether opposite or same-sex, who have been living together for at least three years or have a child and have been living together for some permanence.

Although some people refer to common-law relationships as common-law marriages, they’re wrong. Such a marriage does not exist because a common-law relationship is strictly a relationship. There’s no legal contract required to have one or to end one. Once the relationship is over, it’s over. While there are many similarities between common-law relationships and marriage, there are differences as well.

Common-law 101: property rights

Myth: In a common-law relationship, I have the same property rights as married couples.

Wrong! This is one of the biggest myths Fred Streiman from Dale, Streiman, Kurtz Barristers and Solicitors hears. The property each spouse brings into a common-law relationship continues to belong to that person once the relationship ends. For instance, real estate, vehicles, furniture, financial assets like RRSPs, businesses, even debt – anything you personally own, belongs to you. But, if a couple jointly purchases goods, then both spouses have to share the value or debt incurred.

Lesley Chitra and her partner are high school sweethearts. Prior to getting married, the couple lived in a common-law relationship. But before deciding to take the big step, Chitra did some research and sought legal advice on how she could protect herself. Moving into a house that was under her spouses name, Chitra decided to document everything she contributed to the relationship such as bills, division of labour, and other contributions she made to the house.

“I contributed in terms of furnishing the home and paying bills and what not, whereas he primarily handled the housing.”

Through Chitra’s research, she knew by documenting such things, if she and her spouse were to split, she could argue in court that she should be compensated for her contributions.

For Jennifer Santino, the situation was different. Santino was in a common-law relationship for over five years and during that time she and her partner equally contributed to expenses. When the relationship ended, Santino continued to pay bills that had been incurred by both herself and her partner during the relationship because the bills were in her name.

“I paid thousands extra,” says Santino who admits to not knowing her rights. Looking back, “I’d do more research … and look at my legal responsibilities.”

Common-law 101: spousal and child support

Couples have the responsibility to financially support each other just like married couples. However, unlike married couples, when the relationship ends, spouses in a common–law relationship have a time limit of two years from the time of the split to apply for spousal support from the other person.

But when it comes to child support, a time limit does not exist. A child has a right to be supported regardless if their parents are married or not.

Common-law 101: benefits

Common-law couples may have access to a variety of their spouses’ benefits such as employee benefits, CPP benefits, and welfare benefits. Many benefits have different regulations, time frames, and definitions as to what they consider to be common-law. It’s always best to check to see if you’re eligible for such benefits.

Common-law 101: protect yourself

So what can you do to protect yourself from getting blind-sided after dissolving a common-law relationship?

Streiman suggests couples get a cohabitation agreement or something known as a domestic contract. A domestic contract is a legal document stating how you and your partner want your property, finances, or any legal decisions about the relationship dealt with.

“It avoids uncertainty,” says Streiman, who also adds these contracts may save time and avoid a nasty court battle. Streiman advises couples to sit down and figure out what they would like to put in their contract, because you’ll be putting your time, money and emotions at risk without one.