When Ann Hill was told she had breast cancer, she was floored. Six months earlier, she had a clear mammogram and the diagnosis seemingly came out of nowhere. But that’s when a doctor told her having dense breasts makes a tumour hard to see, and that her cancer has been there for a while.

Dense breasts make it harder to spot cancer in mammograms — but not all affected women know they’re at risk. In 2014, Michelle Di Tomaso was in her doctor’s office after work when she heard the words she’ll never forget. “She just turned to me and said, ‘You have breast cancer,’” Di Tomaso recalled.

B.C. is becoming the first province in Canada to provide information about breast density to women and their doctors after their mammogram screening tests. Health officials will begin providing women with the information beginning mid-October.

An advocacy group called Dense Breasts Canada says Health PEI should be telling Island women about their breast density. In a mammogram, cancer can be harder to see in women with dense breasts. While fatty tissue appears as dark grey in a mammogram, dense tissue shows up as mostly white — just like cancers.

Kathy Kaufield has notched another victory. The former Stratford, P.E.I., resident started a social media campaign, #TellMe, to press political leaders to provide women with information about their breast density after receiving mammograms.

FREDERICTON — A breast cancer survivor and advocate had a sweet victory Friday: She saw the two leading parties adopt her cause as platform planks for the Sept. 24 New Brunswick election. “I’m dancing a happy dance,” Kathy Kaufield said after both the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives pledged Friday to ensure women are given information on their breast density following mammograms.

Studies show the denser the breast, the greater the chance of developing cancer. The Liberals and Progressive Conservatives are promising to give women potentially life-saving information in the form of an additional line about breast density on their mammogram reports.

Dense breast tissue can obscure cancer on a mammogram image. Kathy Kaufield was given the all-clear following her regular mammogram screening in June 2015. Six months later she discovered the lump. She found it on her own by chance in a Saint Andrews hotel in November of that year after forgetting to pack her shower puff. While cleaning by hand, she felt the growth.

The idea is to use the technology instead of relying on a radiologist’s eyes because, like cancer, dense breast tissue appears white in mammograms, making it difficult for radiologists to see. A woman with dense breasts also has more dense tissue than fatty, and that means her chances of getting cancer are higher.