Friends of a Nova Scotia woman who died this month from stage IV breast cancer are urging the province to update its screening policy for women with dense breast tissue.

They believe if such a policy had been in place, Tanja Harrison may have caught her cancer earlier.

“We really need to see the government step up. They know the evidence is there,” said Jennie Dale, the executive director of Dense Breasts Canada, and a friend of Harrison’s.

Dense breasts can make it more difficult for mammograms to detect tumors.

Harrison, 53, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, despite the fact her most recent mammogram came back “clear.”

She shared her story on her profile page for the annual CIBC Run for the Cure fundraiser, organized by the Canadian Cancer Society.

“My last ‘clear’ regular mammogram in late 2021 missed my cancer, and my request for supplemental screening was denied, just like other NS women with dense breasts at higher risk,” she wrote in part.

She said she later felt sick, as pain spread from her back to her hip and lower rib. But her pain was dismissed by her doctor as symptoms of menopause.

“I fractured my hip in early 2023 around the same time I found my own tumor. Even with a biopsy scheduled, I still had to demand an xray/CT scan from my doctor. I was eventually diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer, extensive bone metastases,” she wrote.

On Dec. 2, Harrison passed away. Her obituary describes the accomplished librarian as a wonderful daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, niece, friend, and colleague.

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‘We are missing many women’s cancers’

After her diagnosis, Harrison had taken up advocacy work with Dense Breasts Canada and befriended the organization’s executive director, Jennie Dale.

In a tribute on Facebook, Dale said Harrison inspired their members with her “energy, dedication and actions.”

“Tanja had reason to be angry, but I never heard anger – instead I only heard a passionate voice from a kind and generous woman who gave her time to advocate for equitable access to supplemental screening,” she wrote.

She also vowed to honour Harrison’s memory by continuing her work.

In an interview with Global News, Dale pointed out that Nova Scotia is the only province where supplemental screening isn’t offered.

“Nova Scotia has been a leader in breast cancer screening, historically, but where Nova Scotia is really failing Nova Scotians is when it comes to supplemental screening for women with dense breasts,” Dale said.

“Even when a family doctor completes a requisition and sends it in, that requisition will be rejected.”

Rafah DiCostanzo, a former Liberal MLA and Harrison’s friend, was also diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023.

She too had repeated negative mammogram results, even though she had found a lump.

“The delay in not finding it in 2022 and finding it after the second lump showed up — it made me had to have a mastectomy and full rounds of chemotherapy. Literally I call it hell,” she said.

“We are missing many women’s cancers until we find it at a later stage, which costs so much more to their quality of life and to the government or to the taxpayer.”

She introduced an opposition bill — the Find It Early Act — this past March that would have required government to pay for more detailed screening for women with dense breast tissue.

It didn’t pass.

‘High risk’

In a statement, the Nova Scotia Breast Screening Program, which is operated from the IWK Health Centre, said the province currently has a high-risk screening program and that breast density “is incorporated in many risk models.”

In 2019, Nova Scotia became the first province to use a software to assess breast density and automatically share results with mammogram tests.

Density is categorized from A through D, and women who fall into categories C and D are considered to have dense breasts.

“If women have dense breasts and a 25 % or greater lifetime risk of breast cancer they are eligible for high-risk screening with mammography and MRI,” the statement goes on to say.

“It’s important to remember that increased breast density is one of several risk factors for breast cancer. Other risk factors include age, family history, reproductive history, genetic mutations, high body mass index, etc.”

But Dale says that’s not good enough, and that not everyone with dense breasts are considered “high risk.”

“We’re talking about women with dense breasts who are at elevated risk, but who may not be considered high risk. And so those women have no access to supplemental screening, and mammograms are not enough for them,” said Dale.

Both Dale and DiCostanzo said they will honour their friend Harrison and her advocacy work, and continue to push for change.