Girl, 11, Beats Breast Cancer

Young Girl Survives Rare Form of Breast Cancer

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By Ronnie Koenig

Many of us have been affected by breast cancer -- either we know someone who has had it, or have personally battled the disease. The disconcerting discovery of a lump in the breast, the startling diagnosis, followed by the chemotherapy, the hair loss, the pain and suffering are all too common. But imagine going through all of this as a 10-year-old girl.

Hannah Powell-Auslam of Fullerton, California, is now an 11-year-old breast cancer survivor, the youngest person to battle -- and ultimately beat -- the disease. The happy student who enjoys playing softball, hanging out with her friends and listening to the Jonas Brothers knew something was wrong when she felt what she describes as an “itch” this past April, reports ABC News. It took Hannah awhile to tell her mother something was wrong because she felt embarrassed.

Hannah’s mom and dad, Carrie and Jeffrey Auslam, originally thought what their daughter had complained about was “no big deal,” until doctors gave them the shocking diagnosis.

Doctors discovered cancer in Hannah’s primordial breast tissue -- the same tissue that would develop into a breast once a young girl reaches puberty.

“Am I going to die?” was the first thing Hannah wanted to know, reports ABC News. Suddenly she was thrust into a rotation of treatments and surgeries that most adults have difficulty coping with. Ultimately, Hannah underwent chemotherapy, tumor-removal, mastectomy and removal of the four cancerous lymph nodes under her arms.

Today, she is free of the disease and is a thriving sixth-grader who recently got to meet her idols -- the Jonas Brothers.

According to the National Institutes of Health, secretory carcinoma, the type of breast cancer Hannah had, represents less than .1 percent of all breast cancers and has been found in only a few hundred cases of young girls.

Breast cancer in this age group is extremely rare, but Hannah was one in a million. Hannah had some words of wisdom for other young girls who detect an abnormality in their bodies. “Tell your parents right away,” she told ABC News.