CINCINNATI — According to Cancer.net, more than 3.8 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer. While there are people who actually have it, others were misdiagnosed, and actually could have a rare breast disease called Granulomatous Mastitis, also known as GM.

A business trip in March 2017 was one to remember for Ohio native Tami Burdick. Two months after returning home, she said she experienced flu-like symptoms and more.

“I had some tenderness and soreness in my right breast,” said Burdick. “So, upon a self-breast exam, I noticed a hardened area and a lump. Immediately, I called my primary care physician.”

Results of a mammogram and ultrasound ordered by her primary care doctor found she was BI-RADS 5, which meant she likely had breast cancer. Her doctor asked her to book an appointment with a surgical breast oncologist before her biopsy.

The radiologist thought it could be cancer, and that there was chronic inflammation. 

“I kind of had a suspicion that something serious was going on, potentially cancer because I received a call from my primary care physician to schedule an appointment with a surgical breast oncologist before that biopsy was ever performed,” Burdick said. 

She had a biopsy and her results showed she did not have cancer. It then became her mission to find out what was wrong. She worked diligently with her surgical breast oncologist, who ordered the tests she needed.

The results found she had Granulomatous Mastitis, a rare chronic inflammatory breast disease affecting a little more than two of 100,000 women. 

“We finally got the results of what I was dealing with, what was causing my GM after all that time of abscesses developing, fluid leaking and blood coming out,” she said. “I literally felt like I had to have a first aid kit wherever I went.”

The pathology test found a possible cause: bacteria that usually comes from contaminated water, sewer or soil.

Burdick retraced her steps to see when she could have come in contact with contaminated water, and that’s when she believed it was from taking a shower at the hotel during her business trip.

“I had found out that another professional on that same trip, at the same time, in the same hotel had contracted an infection the same way I did through my breast, but it was contracted through his ankle,” she said. 

Burdick began taking antibiotics, hooked up to a wound vac for six months and underwent several surgeries. She has two scars on her chest, but is now in remission. 

She’s grateful for her “A-team”: functional medicine practitioner Jared Seigler and surgical breast oncologist Kelly McLean, who Burdick said helped her get to where she is today. 

McLean said too often someone may misdiagnose the disease, which is why doctors should do their research but also listen to their patients. 

“Patients with this and I think in general the disease has not been well understood and they don’t know how to move forward with treating it,” McLean said.

It doesn’t stop there for Burdick.

She runs a support group for others battling with GM, she was a keynote speaker at the 2021 Universe Conference of Breast Pathology and Breast Cancer and wrote a book “Diagnosis Detective: Curing Granulomatous Mastitis.”

She hopes her story will not only get medical professionals to become more knowledgeable about the testing options, but also raise awareness to the public about this disease. 

“I shared my own personal research and it can also help friends and family members better understand the emotional component of this disease,” she said. “It’s a very personal and deforming disease.”