Dr. Ahrendsen wrote, regarding a previous post about a breastfeeding mother
who deveolped breast cancer:

>Another point to ponder ( and never know the answer), when would she have
>developed cancer if she had not breastfed?  Maybe 5-10 years sooner?  We can
>never know for sure but this is possible too.

My third child, who was breastfed for 13 months, considerably longer than
either one of his sisters, was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma on his
thigh when he was just a few weeks past his thirteenth birthday.  He
immediately had a wide excision and graft, and eight and a half years later
is well, with no sequella other than an ugly scar.  There is a family history
of skin cancer--his father has had several basal cell carcinomas removed,
beginning in his thirties, and his paternal grandfather had a melanoma when
he was in his sixties.  I seem to remember that the path report noted a good
border of white blood cells around the lesion.  I've often wondered if the
boost Andrew got from breastfeeding had anything to do with an immune
response that was able to contain a rapidly growing cancer in a rapidly
growing child.  Couldn't have hurt.

Judy Dunlap, RNC, IBCLC