Young Women Get Breast Cancer Too
It can sometimes feel unfamiliar.
They don’t always reflect your life stage.
We have created a space where young women are not only included, but prioritised.
Because you’re never too young for breast cancer.
Most breast cancer awareness and education speaks to older women. Most systems tend to be built around their needs.
But breast cancer in your 20s and 30s crashes into your life when you’re studying, starting a career, pregnant, raising small kids, dating, and building a future.
You won’t feel brave every day and that’s okay. On the days it feels too heavy, we’ll hold it with you until you find it again.
We know what it’s like to be dismissed, misdiagnosed, or overlooked. That’s why we show up in the rooms where decisions are made and make change that makes a real difference to young women.
We stand beside you with education to guide you, support to carry you, and advocacy to stand up for you through understanding your risk, diagnosis, treatment, and whatever comes next.
Watch our story – Celebrating 10 years of So Brave
So Brave was born out of one woman’s fight, her resilience, and her refusal to accept this is how the breast cancer experience is for young women.
When Rachelle Panitz was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 32 years old, her world turned upside down. She’d just given birth to her son six weeks earlier and had a three-year-old daughter at home. She had no family history or genetic predisposition, but she trusted her instincts: she had felt that something was wrong.
In the months and years that followed, Rachelle endured nearly 18 months of treatment: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and years of ongoing hormone therapy. The emotional toll was just as heavy: grappling with identity, body image, uncertainty, and the loneliness that comes when people don’t see you, or don’t believe you, just because you’re “too young.”
During this time, Rachelle found something else: a spark of a new purpose. She noticed a gap, few resources existed for women like her: young, in life transitions, with questions about fertility, career, identity, and survival.
She also found hope in art and community. In a chance meeting with body paint artist Wendy Fantasia, the first ideas for what became So Brave began to emerge. Together they asked: What if we could use creativity, visibility, and storytelling to reclaim bodies, share truth, and heal?
What began as a body-art and photography project, a reclaiming of her body, her scars, her narrative grew into a national movement. Rachelle transformed her pain into purpose, founding So Brave in 2017 so that other young women wouldn’t have to walk this path alone.
Under her leadership, So Brave has grown into Australia’s only charity dedicated to young women with breast cancer providing education, advocacy, community, and systemic change. Rachelle’s vision continues to drive the organisation: that no young woman should feel invisible, dismissed, or unsupported because of her age.
She often reflects on what her journey taught her: the courage in vulnerability, the radical act of asking for help, and the belief that transformation can arise from trauma. So Brave is her legacy and her promise to every young woman walking this path now, and those who will come after.
Brave doesn’t mean fearless.
It means showing up anyway.
Even when everything feels like it’s falling apart.
Breast cancer when you’re young doesn’t follow the rules.
It doesn’t wait for the right time.
It crashes into your life when you’re building a career, raising babies, falling in love, finishing your degree, or planning your future.
And too often, the first response is:
“But you’re too young for breast cancer.”
That moment.
The disbelief, the dismissal, is why we exist.
Because too many young women are misdiagnosed, overlooked, or left to navigate a healthcare system that wasn’t built for them.
So Brave is here to change that.
We advocate so young women are seen, heard, and prioritised.
We educate so every woman understands her risk, her options, and her rights.
We create resources that reflect the reality of being young with breast cancer, fertility decisions, mental health, body image, relationships, and beyond.
Whether you’ve just been diagnosed, are wondering how breast cancer could impact your future, or are standing beside someone you love, we’ve got your back.
Because bravery looks different for everyone, and it shifts from day to day. You don’t have to feel So Brave all the time.
We’ll carry the brave for you on the days you can’t, until you’re ready to gather your own brave again.