HER2 Positive Breast Cancer: 60 Real Stories
60 stories match breast cancer and HER2 positive. 57 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Patient Story
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 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 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 storyHER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: June’s Patient Story
June Lee first had breast cancer in April 2005, when she was 43. A mammogram found early signs of cancer in her left breast, even though the lump she had felt was on the right. She was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, had a lumpectomy, and received…
Read this storyStage II HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Frédérique’s Survivor Story
Frédérique was 40 when she was listed with Stage II HER2-positive breast cancer. HER2-positive disease can feel especially alarming because it is biologically distinct and requires treatment that targets that pathway. Her record centers on Herceptin, also…
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 storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Leanne’s Patient Story
Leanne was 55 and living on a horse farm in Nova Scotia when she described living with metastatic lobular breast cancer. She had one daughter, one grandson, and a life centered around writing and horses. Her brain metastasis changed that life, making it…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Eutha’s Survivor Story
Eutha Prince was diagnosed with Stage II invasive ductal and lobular breast carcinoma in 2012 after a suspicious finding on her yearly mammogram led to ultrasound and biopsy. Her tumor was estrogen receptor-positive, progesterone receptor-positive and…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Jim’s Patient Story
Jim Keegan learned he could have breast cancer only after his wife felt a suspicious lump on his chest in May 2013. Their family doctor ordered a mammogram, which was inconclusive, so Jim had a biopsy the same day. The result was early-stage breast cancer. He…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Tiffany’s Patient Story
Tiffany Andrews was 35 when a lump in her right breast led to a diagnosis of Stage II breast cancer. Testing showed HER2-positive disease. She began treatment with 6 rounds of chemotherapy combined with HER2-targeted therapy, then underwent a mastectomy…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Alison’s Survivor Story
Alison was 34 and breastfeeding when she found a lump under her right arm. Biopsies confirmed triple-positive breast cancer in the breast and axillary lymph nodes. After HER2 testing returned equivocal 3 times, the final result guided a TCHP regimen…
Read this storyStage III HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Stefanie’s Survivor Story
Stefanie first noticed a breast lump when she was 5 months pregnant and assumed it was a clogged milk duct. The night she delivered her second child by scheduled C-section, a postpartum nurse raised concern about the lump. An ultrasound was inconclusive, so a…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Shari’s Patient Story
Shari found a breast lump in December 2015. A mammogram several months later led to a surgical lumpectomy because she had saline implants. The lump was breast cancer, and further staging showed that the triple-positive disease was already metastatic, making…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Doreen’s Patient Story
Doreen was diagnosed with Stage IIA triple-positive invasive ductal breast cancer after finding a lump in her left breast during a work trip. Getting the right imaging took persistence: after several calls and one wrong order, she finally had the correct…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Rach’s Patient Story
Rach D. was 27 when she noticed a change in her right breast during her honeymoon. At first, she was unsure whether the lump had always been there. A January physical exam became the turning point: her doctor felt 3 masses and sent her for ultrasound. The…
Read this storyStage III HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Genoa’s Survivor Story
Genoa was living the life she wanted when a subtle but persistent feeling of nausea made her think something was wrong. She was already due for a mammogram, and her OB-GYN also ordered a breast MRI because of her family history of breast cancer. The MRI…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Renee’s Patient Story
Renee first found a hard, painful breast area after playing with her children. Her family doctor quickly suspected breast cancer, and testing showed Stage III disease. The first plan was chemotherapy before surgery, with the hope that she might be able to…
Read this storyStage III HER2-Positive Inflammatory Breast Cancer: Rebecca’s Survivor Story
Rebecca was in her 20s when a pinch in her armpit led her to feel a swollen lymph node. She had had swollen nodes before, so she watched it for a few weeks. When more appeared, she went to several walk-in clinics but felt dismissed as too young and anxious…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Christina’s Patient Story
Christina spent months feeling that something was wrong. In January 2024, she felt as if she had a cold, with swelling around her neck and head. The problem worsened, and she repeatedly told her doctor she felt seriously ill. She later learned that the…
Read this storyTriple-Negative Breast Cancer: Jacqueline’s Patient Story
Jacqueline Bennett first noticed a breast lump months before diagnosis, but several doctors dismissed it as mastitis. In June 2017, shortly after learning she was pregnant again, a new OB/GYN sent her for ultrasound and biopsy. The biopsy confirmed breast…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Janet’s Patient Story
Janet Ayala was 35 when she felt a breast lump while getting ready for a shower in summer 2024. After difficulty getting a diagnostic mammogram appointment, she finally had imaging in September and was told right away it was breast cancer. The diagnosis was…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Sonja’s Patient Story
Sonja Rideout was diagnosed on October 19, 2022, with Stage II HER2-positive breast cancer after ultrasound and biopsy of a 2-inch breast mass. Her treatment began with 4 months of chemotherapy, followed by a total mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction…
Read this storyStage II HR-Positive Breast Cancer: Sian’s Survivor Story
Before a routine mammogram in July 2012, Sian Bevans noticed a lump in her left breast. Ultrasound and biopsy confirmed that the lump was related to fibrocystic breast changes, but the mammogram also showed calcifications in her right breast. Sian delayed the…
Read this storyHER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Janella’s Survivor Story
Janella Bustamante was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in June 2021. Her cancer was described as fueled by estrogen, progesterone and the HER2 protein. She returned to Lima, Peru, for the first part of treatment and spent the following months…
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