Renne
“I am so passionate about research because I do believe that the answers are going to be found in research.”
2022 Story
My MBC story has been 14 years in the making and one roller coaster ride after another.
In 2008, I was 30 years old and diagnosed with Stage 1, Triple Negative, grade 3 breast cancer.
I did everything I was told to do…chemo, lumpectomy, radiation, exercise, ate well, prayed and anything else that could help me.
After 8 rounds of chemo, I had a lumpectomy and the pathology came back to show I had a complete response to chemo…meaning the cancer in my breast was unfindable. I still needed radiation to “mop up any remaining cells,” so I had 39 rounds of radiation.
It was during radiation that my mental health started to slide. When I told my oncologist that I was feeling depressed, she said she often sees this, told me kudos for recognizing and addressing it, gave me a Rx for depression and sent me to therapy. (I always want to make sure I tell the whole story and mental health has been a part of my story.)
After radiation, I was NED for 15 months.
Routine scans showed the stage 1 breast cancer had metastasized to my bones and lungs.
My first line of treatment was for 3 months until my scans showed more growth in my lungs.
My second line of treatment was my magic sauce! I showed NED on my scans 6 weeks into this combo. I stayed on this combo for 7 months until my blood counts couldn’t recover.
My oncologist got permission for medication without chemo.
This was great for about 8 months until my right leg and foot went numb. After going to the ER, I found out I had a met the size of a ping-pong ball in my brain.
I had 3 brain surgeries over the course of 8 months in the same location because the tumor kept regrowing. But the 3rd time was a charm as I have stayed NED in my brain since 2013.
I had become extremely exhausted due to my white counts steadily declining, so I had to take a break from treatment. After a 2 month break, my white counts were still below 2. Because my white counts were staying so low, I needed a bone marrow biopsy which showed I had pre leukemia (MDS).
The only way to treat me was a bone marrow transplant, so we started that process immediately. I had 5 straight days of chemo and Be The Match was looking for a donor for me.
Be The Match found a matching donor for me! October, 2016 I checked into the hospital for my bone marrow transplant. I had 5 straight days of the hardest chemo I had ever had, rested for a few days then received my new blood. Recovering from my transplant was absolutely the hardest recovery I had been through. I still deal with Graft vs Hosts (my body attacks itself in my eyes, gut, lady parts and skin), but I have been NED from MDS for 6 years, NED from breast cancer in my body for 10 years and NED in my brain for 8.5 years!
It is my hope that one day anyone diagnosed with breast cancer, either lower stage or metastatic, will not have to go through what I have gone through.
I am so passionate about research because I do believe that the answers are going to be found in research.