Service members at risk? Young female veterans face devastating breast cancer diagnoses

TAMPA, Fla. (SOA) — As Veterans’ Day approaches, Spotlight on America is highlighting an unexpected battle faced by a growing population of servicewomen. Many are being diagnosed with breast cancer, sometimes at very young ages. That’s prompting urgent calls to ensure they have the tools they need for early diagnosis and treatment.

Jessica Purcell beams with pride when she reflects on her years of service. She's part of a Tampa family that always put country first.

"We have over 100 years of combined service just between my mom, my dad, my brother, myself and my husband," Purcell said.

In fact, Purcell's mom swore her in and pinned her lieutenant bars, making her Jessica's first salute as an officer.

From there, Jessica has been a trailblazing woman in the military. The only female in her class to become a jump-master, she fearlessly plunged from helicopters dozens of times, and served in Afghanistan back in 2013. She's an athlete, ran in races, even played in the military World Series, and was always physically fit and ready to compete.

Jessica admits that she felt "untouchable."

But in 2018, she would be touched by a diagnosis that changed her life. Already a mom to one, she was nine weeks pregnant and just 35 years old, when a doctor revealed to her that she had cancer.

Jessica had long suspected something was wrong. She told Spotlight on America she believes she was misdiagnosed and ignored for months after she found a lump in her breast. She said her concerns were dismissed because of her young age, until she finally got the news.

"I'll never forget the day that I was diagnosed," Jessica said. "Time just froze entirely for me. I remember gazing out the window in the office and just thinking, 'there's no way.'"

It was a life-altering diagnosis for Jessica, but she is far from alone among women who've served our country.

Spotlight on America dug into the prevalence of breast cancer among servicewomen and learned that military women have a 20-40% higher risk than their civilian counterparts, according to a 2009 study published by the National Institutes of Health.

Right now, there are 2 million living women veterans in the US. They're the fastest growing group in the veteran population. Though specific research into breast cancer among them is limited, there are some key findings:

• Breast cancer prevalence in the VA has more than tripled among female veterans from 1995 to 2012.
• The VA reports about 700 female veterans are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. Experts told us the actual number of diagnoses could be higher when taking into account veterans who get their care elsewhere.
• Race may play a role as well. In 2021, one survey found that nearly three times as many women veterans were at increased risk for breast cancer when compared with historical averages in US women, and rates of breast cancer in black women veterans were higher than national numbers.

Some of the possible factors contributing to that risk vary from post-traumatic stress to long-term exposure to hazardous toxins. Jessica Purcell said she did genetic testing and it came back negative, which turned her attention to military service as the possible culprit for her cancer.

"I had been verbally told by multiple providers that I had been walking around with this cancer for about five years," she said. "Going back from August 2018, five years earlier, it was primetime Afghanistan."

There, she told us she was exposed to burn pits, radiation, contaminated water, mold, as well as stress and trauma. All, she believes, may have played a role, and all are shared exposures among servicewomen. Today, a growing number of women are coming forward.

This past fall, at the Military Women's Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, veterans shared a badge of honor and survival. It's known as the Grace Project(Warning: Link contains nudity), a portrait collection of breast cancer victims and survivors who have a common bond of military service.

At the event, dozens of women shared stories of devastating diagnoses, struggle, hope and survival. By their side were experts pushing to better understand their cancer risk, including Dr. Aditi Hazra, an assistant professor at Harvard who's been studying the links between breast cancer and military women.

"We are seeing stories of service women being diagnosed at earlier ages, and I think that we need more comprehensive research to evaluate their risk, their detection, and also the treatment that they're receiving," said Dr. Hazra.

Dr. Hazra is advocating for more awareness, saying young women going into the military should be made aware of their risks and the opportunities for early detection. She's proposing a study that would comprehensively look at the contributing factors - including lifestyle, genetics, environmental exposures and stress.

"My call to them was to get screened, and to have their sisters in arms get screened," she said. "I think they have earned the care and they deserve the best care that we can possibly give them. It is our sacred obligation."

Jessica Purcell has spent years battling her aggressive cancer, even while pregnant with her son. She went through 12 rounds of chemo with him, and he was born healthy, something she considers a "miracle."

Now, as Jessica continues her fight, she wants to ensure other veterans have access to early detection, which could save their lives.

"I believe that we should be receiving annual screening upon entry," said Jessica. "Get ahead of it because we know statistics are already proving that we are at increased risk."

Spotlight on America discovered that the Veterans Affairs Administration long did not have in-house mammography equipment in 15 states. Experts are calling on the Administration to do more to inform women of their risk, and ensure they can be screened early.

"As a person who has been diagnosed with such a hideous disease and the amount of pure torture I've been through, something needs to be done," said Jessica. "There needs to be preventative standards in place."

Those standards may be on the way.This year, Congress passed a series of bills to ensure preventative standards exist at the VA to give veterans access to screening no matter their age and history and to ensure mammography is available to all service members. Now, the challenge is implementing them.

On the next Spotlight on America report, we ask a leading Senator what needs to be done to ensure those new standards are enforced.

Our continuing investigation airs later this week on Sinclair Broadcast Group Stations across the US.

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The VA declined to be interviewed for our stories, but told Spotlight on America all veterans have access to screening at VA facilities or at a community care partner. They added veterans may call, text, or chat online with the Women Veterans Call Center (WVCC) at 855-829-6636 to get help and find available resources and services in their area.