SEATTLE, Wash. - Breast cancer is something women think they know all about: Look for lumps; have mammograms; see doctors. But none of that will save them from one silent breast cancer killer that women know virtually nothing about.

It's called "Inflammatory Breast Cancer," and it's something every woman must know about.

Nancy Key didn't know.

"I was furious and, at the same time, terrified that I was going to die, because I didn't know," she said.

What Marilyn Willingham didn't know, killed her. "She smiled and took a breath and went to sleep," said Willingham's husband, Phil.

And Kristine Turck didn't know.

"It's going to be a tough fight," Turck said.

They didn't know there was more than one kind of breast cancer: one that emerged without a lump and could not be detected with a mammogram. They didn't know Inflammatory Breast Cancer - or IBC - is the most aggressive form of breast cancer. They didn't know, until they got it.

Almost Never A Tell-Tale Lump

"How can I have something when I go to the doctor every year, I do self breast exams every month and what is this? Why am I surprised?" Key asked.

Every woman has been taught the same thing when it comes to breast cancer - look for a lump. But when it comes to IBC, there usually isn't one.

"Inflammatory breast cancer almost always presents itself without a lump," said Breast Cancer Specialist Dr. Julie Gralow.

Inflammatory breast cancer appears in sheets of cancer or, what doctors call, cancer nests. The cancer clogs breast tissue vessels.

"If I had heard of it prior, I probably would have been more suspect that something was wrong rather than just young and dumb," Turck said.

Turck was 37 when she was diagnosed with IBC, three years away from the recommended age to start mammograms.

Her mother, Patti Bradfield, can never forget the day Turck told her.

"I have the kind that I'm gonna die," Bradfield said. She had never heard of IBC either.

"Ignorance is causing death," Bradfield said.

Getting The Word Out

Bradfield is determined to warn every woman she meets.

"Have you heard of inflammatory breast cancer?" she asked a woman on a street corner. "I'm not trying to sell anything. My daughter has stage 4, and I'm just trying to alert women." She stopped 46 people on that corner, and 42 never heard of IBC.

"Oh my God, I never even heard of it, thank you for the information," said a young mother.

"The interesting thing is most women have never heard about IBC and most physicians heard about it in medical school but never have seen a case," Dr. Gralow said.

Key and Willingham's doctors told them they had bug bites on their breasts and prescribed antibiotics. By the time Willingham was diagnosed, she was stage 4 and the cancer was everywhere.

"I never dealt with stages of cancer, I didn't know there wasn't a stage 5," Bradfield said.

Know The Symptoms

Andi was just 16 when she died from IBC. She was too embarrassed to tell her mother her breast looked funny. It was slightly enlarged and her nipple was inverted - classic IBC symptoms.

Other symptoms include: rapid increase in breast size, redness, skin that is hot to the touch, persistent itching, an orange peel texture to the breast and thickening of breast tissue.

"It's important to understand your breast, no one knows your breasts better than you," Dr. Gralow said.

"It doesn't happen very often, so there isn't as much awareness about it," said Lynn Hagerman, Executive Director of the Susan G. Komen Foundation's Puget Sound Affiliate. "IBC accounts for about 6 percent of all invasive breast cancer cases."

With its pink ribbons and messages heard nationwide, the Susan G. Komen Foundation is the undisputed leader in breast cancer awareness.

In the past 20 years, the foundation's work has helped boost survival rates from 75 percent to 95 percent.

"One in eight women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime," Hagerman said.

Hard To Find IBC Information

IBC survivors said that, and not being included in awareness campaigns, made them feel left out.

"It's all about them, it's not about the good for everyone else," Turck said.

And after they were diagnosed, survivors said they called cancer centers and could not get help.

I called four cancer help lines in Seattle, and three out of four did not know about IBC.

"It stands for Inflammatory Breast Cancer, three separate words," I told one center.

Even when I spelled it out, they still didn't know.

"I just want to be sure, I called the resource desk at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, is that right?" I asked.

When her own helpline didn't know, that shocked Dr. Gralow.

"Wow... which means we have education of our own staff to do," she said.

More Money Going To Research

More information on IBC would help ensure that women know what to look for.

Dr. Gralow assured us that the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is spending research funds on IBC. Komen said it is as well.

Dr. Gralow is also working with the National Cancer Institute and will participate in the State of Science conference to be held in April 2007 in Bethesda, Maryland. She said IBC is on the agenda.

Since my initial report, the Susan G. Komen Foundation told me they need to do a better job with IBC awareness and that they're redesigning their website and creating a better search engine to make all information, including IBC, more accessible.

The best way to detect IBC is to know the warning signs and ask for an MRI or a biopsy for detection.