11-Year-Old Breast Cancer Survivor
Sixth grader is "good" as she gets back to life after conquering breast cancer.
Oct. 9, 2009— -- At the tender age of 11 Hannah Powell-Auslam is now a sixth-grader, a big Jonas Brothers fan and a softball lover who enjoys spending time with her friends.
She's also likely the youngest breast cancer survivor in the country.
After battling the disease since April, Hannah finally had her last chemotherapy treatment this fall, and shortly thereafter found out her cancer was no longer detectable.
The young girl from Fullerton, Calif., told Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America" Friday that she is now feeling "good" and is advocating for all children to tell their parents immediately when there is something wrong with your body.
"Tell [your] parents right away," Hannah said, adding that she had waited to tell her mom about the lump in her breast because she was "embarrassed."
When "GMA" first reported Hannah's story this past spring, she had just been diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her primordial breast tissue -- the very tissue that in a healthy body would begin to develop into a breast once the child hits puberty.
"Originally I thought it was no big deal," Hannah's mom, Carrie Auslam, told "GMA."
But what had started as an itch to Hannah, her mother and doctors soon realized was much more serious.
Following the removal of the lump in her breast the doctor called her parents back into the office.
"He said, 'I'm really sorry to tell you, but it's cancer," Hannah's father, Jeremy Auslam, said.
Hannah's parents said they waited a few days to learn more about the disease and treatment plan before they told Hannah about the diagnosis.
"Her first question was, 'Am I going to die?'" Carrie Auslam said.
It was devastating news to the 10-year-old girl.
"I was just, how could this happen? I'm 10, so I was really shocked" Hannah told "Good Morning America" in May. "I just want to be a normal kid. I want to go back to school, play sports, hang out with my friends."
But Hannah couldn't go back to normal, at least not yet. And because of her young age and the rarity of the disease, doctors struggled to find a treatment plan that was age appropriate.
"Breast cancer in this population is exceedingly rare, less than one in a million" said Fran Visco, president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
The form of breast cancer that Hannah had, secretory carcinoma, has been found in only a few hundred cases of young girls, representing less than .1 percent of all breast cancers, according to the National Institutes of Health.