Rachel Sobel

In May 2025, after years of proactive testing, Rachel Sobel was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Since her mother is a breast cancer survivor, Rachel always knew her risk was higher than most, and that proactivity could save her life. At just 35 years old, Rachel became a fierce advocate for herself in the doctor’s office asking to begin screening earlier than usual. She built close relationships with her care team, who all helped advocate for her when necessary, and committed herself to an intensive screening routine, which included 10 years of regular mammograms and ultrasounds, ultimately shifting to a staggered schedule of mammograms alternating with contrast MRIs every six months. She then began yearly contrast mammograms (a technology not widely available even though it should be) to streamline her screenings to a yearly cadence.

It was that vigilance, and that contrast mammogram, that found two tumors, one in each breast, just nine months after a clean mammogram. During a routine self-examination, she discovered a small lump five days before her yearly screening. What she didn’t know was that there was also a second tumor on the other side that was undetectable by touch. Because her cancer was detected through an advanced screening only available in a handful of facilities across Florida, her cancer was caught at Stage I/Grade 1. Thanks to her commitment to get the best care team she could, coupled with access to the right technology, Rachel was able to receive a bilateral mastectomy just 26 days after her diagnosis through a direct-to-implant plan. 

Today, Rachel uses her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment experiences to make a difference in the lives of other women. She is determined to make sure other women have the information she now has and speaks publicly to young women across the country about self-advocacy, early detection, and what she thinks about age-based/family history-based screening rules. 

Rachel’s goal is to impact as many people as possible: “I would be happy even if one person heard my story and booked their mammogram as a result. Mostly, I want to empower patients to use their voice, not take no for an answer, and be vigilant about their screenings because I am living proof that early detection saves lives.”

Through her partnership work with Right Scan Right Time and with the recent introduction of the Health Tech Investment Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, she is advocating with grit to ensure women and patients can access the necessary technologies and resources to give them the best chance possible against breast cancer. She says that while she had access to life-saving medical technology that helped detect her cancer early, she’s “fighting to make cutting-edge technology available for everyone, because it should not be a privilege to aggressively screen for breast cancer, it should be the standard, and until it is, we are failing young women everywhere.”

You can follow Rachel on Instagram: @whineandcheezits