My Cancer Story

On December 22, 2020, I got a phone call that would change my life. My husband, Nolan and I were living in Southern California while I was working as a travel nurse on a Covid unit in the hospital. We had been exploring Cali as best as we could (despite the pandemic) and loving it! Then one day, out of the blue, I noticed a lump in my left breast. I called my primary care doctor from Michigan, who suggested I go to urgent care as we were living out of state. Within 24 hours, I had an ultrasound and biopsy of the mass. The next four days were the longest of my life as I waited for a phone call from the nurse who would tell me if the mass was benign or cancerous.

 

I will never forget leaving work early, sitting in the car with Nolan, and receiving the news that indeed, I did have invasive ductal carcinoma, also known as breast cancer. This came as a HUGE shock as I was 26 years old and have no family history of breast cancer. Fast forward a few weeks, we flew back home to Michigan to live with my parents, and I started receiving medical care at the University of Michigan. I had a pet scan in January, 2021 showing my cancer had metastasized (spread) to my lymph nodes and liver. Unfortunately, this means my cancer is stage IV, or metastatic.

 

I completed Adriamycin/Cytoxan chemotherapy aka the “red devil” followed by Taxol in early 2021. In July, 2021 I had another pet scan to evaluate how well chemo worked, and according to the pet scan there was no cancer left on my liver. To be safe, my oncologist ordered a liver MRI, and we were devastated with the results as there was still cancer on my liver in multiple spots that were undetectable on the pet scan. There had been plans for a mastectomy and radiation, but that was all cancelled after finding out this terribly disappointing news.

 

Since then it has been a roller coaster and I have been on numerous medications including Ibrance with Anastrozole and Faslodex, Xeloda, Taxol (again), and Trodelvy. I also had my ovaries removed in February 2022 because my cancer is estrogen receptor positive (feeds on estrogen), and since I'm so young, medications were not enough to get rid of all the estrogen in my body. Unfortunately, all of these treatments failed, in the spring of 2023, I sought a second opinion at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. I  enrolled in my 2nd clinical trial at MD Anderson in November 2023 and have been doing really well. In January 2025, I learned that the clinical trial I was in was available in Grand Rapids, Michigan at a clinic called START Midwest. Since then, I have been receiving treatment in my home state again which has been life changing. I continue to live my life in 3 month increments based on scan results, however, we are very hopeful I can remain in this trial for years to come. Since being enrolled, the cancer in my body has shrunk by 35% and continues to slowly do so.