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After contracting an incredibly rare infectious breast disease, an Ohio woman was shocked to discover it came from contaminated water.
"It was me that found the test for the bacteria, and it was me leading the way to find out how I contracted it," Tami Burdick of Cincinnati told Fox News Digital. Burdick wrote a memoir of her health journey of self-diagnosis, "Diagnosis Detective: Curing Granulomatous Mastitis."
Tami Burdick is an author and advocate for granulomatous mastitis. She shares her story of self-diagnosis in her book, "Diagnosis Detective: Curing Granulomatous Mastitis." (Tami Burdick)
An image of Tami Burdick post-operation. Burdick said she has two scars from her breast surgery. (Tami Burdick)
In January 2017, Burdick went to Connecticut for a business trip, and roughly two months after her return home, she began experiencing a host of symptoms. Burdick shared that she began experiencing breast pain. After a self-evaluation, she discovered a hard lump.
Assuming an impending cancer diagnosis, Burdick promptly called her primary care physician, who ordered a mammogram and ultrasound of the infected area. After Burdick's biopsy, she was relieved to learn it was not a cancer diagnosis.
Instead, Burdick was diagnosed with granulomatous mastitis (GM) a "rare chronic inflammatory breast condition" that is incredibly painful.
"I was most certainly relieved it wasn’t cancer, though I could have never imagined how this breast disease would soon reveal its ugly head like the monster it was," Burdick said.
Tami Burdick began researching Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii after a test revealed it was the root cause for her breast disease. (Tami Burdick)
Despite Burdick's diagnosis, she still did not know what had caused her condition, nor a path forward for treatment and recovery. Eventually, Burdick came across a Facebook support group, where she connected with other women from across the world who have GM.
Seven months from her initial diagnosis, Burdick uncovered a gene sequencing pathology test that a woman in her support group recommended.
"It ultimately helped save my life," Burdick said.
"It ultimately helped save my life."
Tami Burdick, right, and her doctor and friend, Dr. Kelly McLean. Dr. McLean ordered the pathology test that eventually revealed Burdick's root cause, bacteria mostly associated with water. (Tami Burdick)
After taking the test, Burdick finally learned the cause of her painful breast infection.
"The reason why I called my book ‘Diagnosis Detective’ was because it was me that figured everything out before the doctor," Burdick told Fox News Digital. "I found a test that finally revealed an infection after seven months. I knew something was causing it.
"And, finally, after seven months, we had an answer."
The pathology test revealed Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii as the root cause of Burdick's disease.
Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii is an environmental-originated bacteria associated mostly with water, sewage and soil.
Tami Burdick, left, and her oncologist, Dr. Kelly McLean, wear "GM" advocacy T-shirts. (Tami Burdick)
Tami Burdick's original mammogram prior to her ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy that would then result in her diagnosis of granulomatous mastitis. (Tami Burdick)
Burdick's next order of business was finding out how she contracted the bacteria.
She had her water tested in her Ohio home for the Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii, but the results were negative. Burdick said that she had not been in a pool, hot tub or any other bodies of water for "quite some time."
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Research about the bacteria told Burdick that it needed a natural point of entry, like a pore or duct opening.
Eventually, Burdick and her medical team came to believe that she contracted the nasty bacteria from her hotel shower during her 2017 business trip.
Tami Burdick's first time returning to the Northeast since her diagnosis of granulomatous mastitis. She says she contracted the rare disease from a hotel shower during a business trip to Connecticut in 2017. (Tami Burdick)
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Years after Burdick's diagnosis with GM, she is still advocating and educating people about the rare infectious disease that affects 2.4 women per 100,000.
"I have two scars on my breast. One is towards the top and the other one is underneath," Burdick said. "I see them every single day, and I call them my warrior wounds."
She said her scars are a reminder to keep sharing her story with the world and to keep advocating for others facing GM.
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"I even wrote in my book that God gives his battles to his strongest soldiers and that God knew that there needed to be a voice for this disease," Burdick said. "At the end of the day, it's all about helping people."
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