TORRANCE, Calif. — A doctor in Torrance has been helping breast cancer patients after her personal experience with the disease.

Dr. Lorena Gonzalez spent nine years training for vascular surgery. But one day, while at a meeting of surgeons, she felt something that changed her both personally and professionally. 

“I was rehearsing my talk and as I was preparing I actually noticed a lump in my left underarm armpit in my axilla,” Gonzalez said. “I suspected that something was wrong.”

It was breast cancer. Gonzalez found out she carried a genetic mutation and was the first in her family to find it.

She fought cancer with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. When her hair started to fall out, both she and her husband let their hair go. But because Gonzalez was 37 years old, they wondered if they’d also have to let go of one day being parents.

“We knew we wanted to do some family planning we just hadn’t gotten around to it yet and now that decision was probably going to be threatened,” she said.

She decided to freeze her eggs. She also decided to leave vascular surgery to help others like her.

Now she’s a breast cancer surgeon at City of Hope. She operates on patients like Rosie Torres, whose cancer was found during a mammogram in January. Torres talked to a few doctors before choosing Gonzalez to perform a lumpectomy.

“Having someone who had been through this journey and had firsthand experience,” Torres said.

According to the National Cancer Institute, there were more than 280,000 new cases of breast cancer in 2021. Gonzalez’s firsthand experience creates a deeper connection between her and her patients.

“My sense of empathy is obviously deepened because I myself have experienced the diagnosis, but I try to make sure that when the patient comes to see me that the appointment is about them and not me,” Gonzalez said.

After finishing her appointments, she goes home to her 20-month old son, who she had via in vitro fertilization. 

Gonzalez is in remission. She has one year until she hits the five-year threshold of being cancer-free.

She urges people to do self-exams and have a mammogram every year starting at the age of 40.

According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 12.9% of women will be diagnosed with female breast cancer at some point during their lifetime. Encouragingly, the five-year survival rate was 90.3% between 2011 and 2017.

City of Hope is hosting a virtual Walk for Hope on Nov. 7 to bring together supporters and survivors.