Jackie Low was just seven weeks shy of her 42nd birthday when her life changed.
"I remember very clearly the first time that I touched the lump. I actually just brushed my hand against my breast and I remember my heart just skipping a beat and thinking, what is that?" she said.
It turned out to be stage two breast cancer.
Only 25 per cent of women are under 50 when they develop the disease.
The diagnosis took Jackie by surprise.
"Obviously I was very very shocked. I was relatively young and there's no family history of breast cancer in my family at all," Ms Low said.
New research has found Jackie's story is not uncommon.
A study of more than 1200 patients found women from Asian backgrounds are more likely to develop cancer in the younger age bracket of 40-50.
For reasons yet to be determined, the study found women from white European backgrounds are more likely to experience a breast cancer resurgence.
Lead Researcher, Dr Eunji Hwang said the study could change how breast cancer is treated in the future.
"It's an interesting finding, it may be related just to migration, but it also eludes to the possibility of there being more biologically distinct behaviours of breast cancers in different ethnicities."
Cancer Council CEO, Professor Sanchia Aranda said the organisation will consider amending recommended breast cancer screening ages.
"The finding that Asian women tend to be younger when diagnosed will have implications for understanding when these women should be thinking about when they should be getting their baseline mammogram done."
After undergoing chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy Ms Low is now cancer free.
She hopes these study findings will promote greater awareness of breast cancer among women from migrant communities.
"I think targeted communication based on ethnicity would definitely be useful because if I had known that I would have been much more vigilant about self-checks."
