At 101 years old, Layne Horwich lives in her own apartment, goes grocery shopping and pays her own bills. She has her hair done at the beauty salon every week and gets manicures.
Her doctors say the stylish centenarian is extraordinarily healthy, calling her “amazing” and “unique.”
But her routine was suddenly disrupted by an unexpected health crisis last year. Horwich was diagnosed with breast cancer at 100 after feeling a small lump while putting on her nightgown.
She told a family member about the mass the next day.
“If there’s a lump, you check it out,” Horwich, who lives independently in Highland Park, Illinois, tells TODAY.com.
Her granddaughter immediately took her to her gynecologist’s office and a mammogram confirmed Stage 1 breast cancer — the first time Horwich had ever been diagnosed with the disease. It was caught early and was not aggressive.
“I know for younger women to hear that they have breast cancer is devastating,” Horwich says.
“But for me, at my age, I’d heard that it didn’t (grow) very quickly, plus I was so happy not to have a stroke or heart attack, which would have incapacitated me. So I looked at it in a different way than young people.”
A lot of women assume their breast cancer risk goes down as they get older, but it’s actually the opposite, says Dr. Catherine Pesce, a breast surgical oncologist at Endeavor Health.
Horwich was her first ever 100-year-old patient.
“I just knew she would do well because she’s so strong,” Pesce tells TODAY.com.
“I think seeing somebody who’s 100 and she can do this might give others hope, too.”
Older Women and Mammograms
Horwich had been getting regular mammograms but stopped several years ago when her gynecologist retired.
Older women should keep getting a mammogram at least every two years as long as they’re in good health and expect to live at least 10 more years, the American Cancer Society recommends.
Pesce’s advice is to get a mammogram every year if a woman thinks she’ll live another five years.
“Unless you see it every day like someone like me in my clinic, you don’t realize that it definitely can happen in your 80s and 90s,” she says.
But doctors also have to be careful about overtreating breast cancer that might never cause problems during an older woman’s lifetime, studies have found.
Choosing Surgery
Pesce gave Horwich three treatment options. One was doing nothing and monitoring the slow-growing cancer, which the centenarian rejected.
“I just wanted it out of me. I didn’t want it to stay there,” Horwich says.
This was unexpected at her age, Pesce notes.
The second option was to take a hormone therapy pill to slow the cancer’s growth even more. But the medication can cause hair loss “and she wanted nothing to do with that,” Pesce recalls. “Her hair is just very clearly part of her identity and what’s important to her. She’s beautiful.”
“I’m just lucky I still have a good head of hair. I don’t want to lose that,” Horwich says.
She chose the third option — a lumpectomy, a procedure to remove the cancer and some surrounding tissue. Pesce and Horwich’s primary care doctor agreed she was in “great health” and could tolerate the anesthesia, so she underwent the surgery in August 2024.
“She’s amazing,” Pesce says. “I was treating her like she was a 60-year-old.”
Horwich recovered quickly and didn’t need any chemotherapy or radiation.
“I’m now cancer-free,” she says. “I just go on with my life.”
Longevity Tips
Horwich credits luck and staying active for her healthy longevity.
Genetics don’t seem to be a factor since her mom passed away at 72, and her father at 80, which she once thought was a very long life. But as a 101-year-old, she now calls people in their 80s “children.”
Here are some of her tips for a long life:
Move your body
Horwich played tennis until she was 92 and has been active all her life, including climbing stairs to get to her apartment.
Some experts call tennis the healthiest sport because of its benefits for the mind and body.
At 101, she walks energetically and doesn’t need a walker.
“It’s important to exercise, to keep moving — and not necessarily strenuous exercise, but just the fact that you keep moving,” she says.
Challenge Your Brain
The centenarian plays cards and mahjong three or four times a week with friends “because I think it’s good for my brain,” she says.
Research confirms those benefits. Board and card games can help older people maintain cognitive functions, studies have found.
The social interaction of multi-person games like mahjong can prevent loneliness and improve brain function, researchers note.
Be With Friends
“I always was very social, always had friends and (was) out to dinner and lunch,” Horwich says.
“Just keep busy and have a lot of contacts, friends.”
Cultivating warm relationships is a key part of the formula for how to be happy, experts say.
Enjoy What You Eat
Horwich eats pretty much everything but avoids junk food. She doesn’t credit her eating habits for her longevity.
“I can’t rave about my diet because I don’t love vegetables,” she says. “When I was little, my mother said I was a meat and potatoes girl.”
But she likes salads and red peppers. She’s also developed a sweet tooth in recent years, enjoying milk chocolate and dessert in moderation. A piece of cake might last her for a few days — “I nibble,” she says.
Stay Balanced
Horwich doesn’t rush and doesn’t multitask, says her daughter Nancy Rothstein.
“She really is focused on what she’s doing, sort of old fashioned in that way,” Rothstein, 72, tells TODAY.com.
“She moves beautifully, but she’s not like the rest of us, running around like crazy people… She’s just very even-keeled.”
Take Care of Your Body
The centenarian never smoked. She drank alcohol in moderation — one drink if she went out to dinner. “That didn’t start till I had three children and by the time I went out for dinner, I needed it,” Horwich says.
She no longer drinks any alcohol to reduce the risk of falling.
Horwich has resumed getting regular mammograms.
“I always took care of myself that way,” she says. “If I can help anybody, to remind them to take care of themselves, that’s important to me.”
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