Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: 453 Real Stories
453 stories match breast cancer and chemotherapy. 392 of them mention surgery.
Stage IV Breast Cancer: Kattysmith’s Patient Story
Kattysmith was first diagnosed with borderline Stage I/II breast cancer in 2003, shortly before turning 51. She underwent lumpectomy with sentinel-node biopsy, which showed no spread, followed by radiation and tamoxifen. After years of follow-up, breast…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Naomi’s Patient Story
Naomi was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2024 while raising two children, ages six and eight. Chemotherapy caused rapid hair and weight loss, and she wore a wig because her children were frightened by how ill she looked. A mastectomy brought both…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Adriana’s Survivor Story
Adriana was 34 and living in Israel when she noticed a breast lump. As a doctor with a strong awareness of her family history, she recognized that the mammogram looked concerning. She flew to Brazil the next morning because she could obtain a biopsy more…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Ann’s Patient Story
Ann was diagnosed in February 2017 with two large ER-positive, HER2-negative invasive lobular cancers in her right breast. The tumors had not been felt and had not appeared on mammograms, and cancer was found in 17 lymph nodes. She underwent right mastectomy…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Jenna’s Patient Story
Jenna was 34 and pregnant when she found a breast lump that she initially thought was a clogged milk duct. Ultrasound and an urgent biopsy confirmed breast cancer with spread to lymph nodes. A second opinion agreed that treatment needed to begin quickly…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Suzi’s Patient Story
Suzi found a painful lump in the lower part of her left breast during a self-check at the end of April 2024. She had long believed that painful lumps were unlikely to be cancer, but a mammogram, breast scan, and guided biopsy confirmed carcinoma. The…
Read this storyStage III Breast Cancer: Susan’s Survivor Story
Susan was 59 when a routine mammogram found breast cancer despite there being no lump or other warning sign. In the first days after diagnosis, she struggled to believe that cancer had entered her life so abruptly. Fear shaped how she thought about survival…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Leftfootforward’s Survivor Story
Leftfootforward was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her treatment began with A/C chemotherapy and then Herceptin. She had a bilateral mastectomy, followed by 36 rounds of radiation. Herceptin continued for about 8…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Rachel’s Patient Story
Rachel has been connected with The Christie since 2011, when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. She considered herself fortunate because her treatment did not require surgery. Instead, she managed the disease with hormone treatment and oral…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Carol’s Survivor Story
Carol had only just turned 30 when she found out she had breast cancer. She wanted to have a baby, so one of her first fears was that cancer treatment might take away that possibility. Even with that worry, she knew treatment had to come first. Carol was…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Iria’s Survivor Story
Iria was 34 when she decided to stop avoiding breast screening. Her mother had developed breast cancer before age 40, and Iria had long lived with fear that it could happen to her too. In 2013, while working in health insurance, a conversation with a…
Read this storyHormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive breast cancer with later lung metastasis
This patient had regular breast screening every year, alternating mammography and ultrasound. One screening found a 1.5 cm breast tumor. She had not thought of herself as high risk: she exercised, felt healthy, and did not match the common risk factors she…
Read this storyBRCA Breast Cancer: Susana’s Survivor Story
Susana, a preschool teacher, noticed a hollow or indentation in the lower part of her breast. Cancer was already familiar in her family, and she knew she carried a BRCA gene mutation. The diagnosis led to removal of both breasts. Surgery was difficult: the…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Regina’s Patient Story
Regina Ritter was 51 at the time of her interview and a mother of 4. Her breast cancer began in May 2008, when she was 47 and felt something painful and very large in her right breast. Further examinations found a tumor, and CT also showed a liver metastasis…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Gemina’s Survivor Story
Gemina, a health journalist, remembered the key months of her breast cancer story clearly: when she first noticed that something was wrong, when the diagnosis was confirmed, and when surgery took place. Because of her professional background, she understood…
Read this storyStage IV BRCA Breast Cancer: Carolina’s Patient Story
Carolina, originally from Bogotá, moved alone to Spain in 2002 to study. Years later, she faced breast cancer in a difficult and physically demanding way. Her cancer was metastatic from the start, and she was found to carry a BRCA gene mutation. Because of…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Belén’s Survivor Story
Belén’s breast cancer experience began in summer 2007, when she moved from knowing the oncology clinic as a Roche employee to entering it as a patient. Because she already knew oncologists and understood breast cancer information, she could ask questions and…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Marta’s Survivor Story
Marta was 38 in 2009 when a routine checkup found a breast tumor. She had recently returned to Spain after working in Poland, and surgery confirmed the tumor was malignant. What followed was a long and frightening 5-year path that included chemotherapy…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Pilar’s Patient Story
Pilar was 43 and living with metastatic hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive breast cancer. Before cancer, she had trained as a special-education and early-childhood teacher, spent 14 years in Nicaragua, worked with young people and families affected by…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Ana’s Patient Story
Ana was 45 when breast cancer was found during her annual gynecology review. A small lump appeared on ultrasound even though mammography had missed it. Further palpation and biopsy showed breast cancer described to her as aggressive. An extension study found…
Read this storyBreast Cancer: Cindy-Anne’s Survivor Story
Cindy-Anne Manoo was working as a personal support worker when a resident accidentally hit her in the chest. A sore area remained, and she later felt a lump. Ultrasound, mammogram, and biopsy led to a breast cancer diagnosis on December 21, 2021, her 44th…
Read this storyHR-Positive Breast Cancer: Toni’s Patient Story
Toni S was 59 when she was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in February 2021. She learned that this type of breast cancer is hormone receptor-positive and HER2-positive, and her oncologist explained that there were medicines that could target her…
Read this storyStage II BRCA1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Stephanie’s Patient Story
Stephanie Hargis was 25 when she found a painful lump in her right breast in March 2022. With no family history and her young age, she and her clinicians first thought it might be an inflamed lymph node. Ultrasound and biopsy instead showed Stage II…
Read this storyInvasive Ductal Carcinoma: LAM64’s Survivor Story
LAM64 was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2019 after imaging of the left breast showed a mass at the 3 o’clock position. Follow-up mammogram and ultrasound at Emory Breast Center confirmed the mass and also showed an enlarged left axillary lymph…
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