In late October 2000, Dr. Keen casually sat down to review her own mammogram. She was stunned. Her mammogram showed unmistakable signs of malignant calcifications - tiny calcium deposits – right over her heart. While she had some breast soreness, she did not have a strong family history for breast cancer and never thought the disease she diagnosed in her patients would hit so close to home. 

 

A few years later, this 50 year old black belt physician has turned her experience into a story of hope and inspiration. To help other women with this diagnosis, Dr. Keen wrote a warm and humorous account of her own experience in a book called Defeating Breast Cancer: A Physician’s Story of Healing, Martial Arts and Life.

 

“Everything you read about breast cancer treatment is so scary,” she says. “I wanted to create something more upbeat for women facing this diagnosis. Humor, positive attitude, and the best of Eastern and Western philosophy and medicine: I enlisted them all to maximize my chances of survival and to grow through this experience.”

 

Dr. Keen went on to have a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, keeping up her karate training throughout her treatment. She beat her cancer and is now an even bigger advocate for early screening in women. While Maryland’s breast cancer screening rates have improved in recent years, the state still has one of the highest mortality rates in the country. Experts say timely mammography could prevent 15% to 30% of all breast cancer deaths.

 

"One in seven women now will get breast cancer in their lifetime. While the incidence of breast cancer is on the rise, mortality is decreasing.  We can improve our odds in the fight against breast cancer. I urge women to get early mammograms to save their lives, the way it saved mine," Dr. Keen said.