Stage 4 Breast Cancer: 144 Real Stories
144 stories match breast cancer and stage 4. 91 of them mention surgery.
Stage IV Breast Cancer: Nathalie’s Patient Story
Nathalie, a homemaker and mother of two from Colombia, had been living with stage 4 breast cancer for more than three years. A strong family history prompted her to seek evaluation after noticing changes in breast shape and areas of thickening. Several…
Read this storyStage 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 storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Rhonda’s Patient Story
Rhonda Schaller was living with metastatic breast cancer and the reality that progression could bring another treatment line. She described allowing herself to feel worry, tears, tiredness, confusion, and moments of laughter rather than trying to suppress any…
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 storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy was 48 when she noticed that her left nipple had become inverted. She had also been unusually tired, had sore breasts, and was experiencing severe back pain, but the nipple change was what prompted her to seek care. Her first mammogram was followed by…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Goodie16’s Survivor Story
Goodie16 found a lump in the left breast in April 2014. Mammography did not show the lump, but ultrasound and biopsy confirmed invasive ductal carcinoma. They underwent mastectomy, and the lymph nodes were clear. The cancer was staged as IA, the Oncotype DX…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Yara’s Patient Story
Yara was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020 after years of fearing the disease following an earlier benign lump. The diagnosis pushed her to make decisions she had postponed and to live more boldly, but daily life remained shaped by fear of recurrence, scan…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Lie’s Patient Story
Lie Huang, a 66-year-old woman from Indonesia, found an egg-sized breast lump in August 2014. She already lived with heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, so another major illness felt especially frightening. Hoping the lump would disappear, she first…
Read this storyStage 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 storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Helen’s Patient Story
Helen was diagnosed with advanced metastatic breast cancer after working for 14 years as a clinical research nurse at The Christie. Because of her professional background, she understood more than most what cancer treatment could involve, but the diagnosis…
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 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 storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Silvia’s Patient Story
Silvia Litsching was 61, married, and the mother of 2 adult children when she described more than 20 years with breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 1990 at age 38 after insisting that a breast lump be checked, even though earlier examinations had seemed…
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 Breast Cancer: Manuela’s Patient Story
Manuela Weber was 63 when she described living with metastatic breast cancer. Her first breast cancer was diagnosed in 2000 after a lump led to mammography and biopsy. Cancer was found in both breasts, but no lymph node involvement was described. Both breasts…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer: Tova’s Patient Story
Tova Goldblum was 60 when she described a breast cancer diagnosis that had begun in 1992. At that time, doctors advised removal of the breast. Living in Germany far from her family, she felt very alone with the diagnosis and the treatment decisions. Lists of…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer Patient Story
A woman who had always been active, healthy, and busy with work and family noticed a lump in the lower inner part of her left breast. For a long time, she tried to convince herself it was a benign breast condition. A doctor's exam changed everything. Testing…
Read this storyStage IV Breast Cancer Patient Story
A woman was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer and had surgery, but the adrenal metastasis could not be removed and remained in place. She went through one standard treatment after another. At times, bowel obstruction led to several hospitalizations…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Nikoo’s Patient Story
Nikoo’s first experience with invasive lobular carcinoma began in 2003, when her general practitioner felt hard tissue in her right breast even though she had recently had a clear mammogram. Ultrasound and biopsy found a 0.9 cm lobular breast cancer. She had…
Read this storyStage IV HR-Positive Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Jeri’s Patient Story
Jeri was a retired oncology registered nurse living near West Chester, Pennsylvania, when an annual mammogram found part of an abnormal-looking lymph node. She had just turned 60 and felt active and well. Biopsy of the lymph node showed invasive lobular…
Read this storyStage IV Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Lisa’s Patient Story
Lisa was living in Kentucky with her husband, 3 sons, and 7 grandchildren when she learned that her invasive lobular carcinoma had returned as metastatic disease. Her first signs had appeared in 2017: an inverted nipple, followed about 6 weeks later by…
Read this storyStage IV Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Kris’s Patient Story
Kris lives in West Central Florida and is a retired closed captioner. Years before her diagnosis, back injuries from a 2013 motor vehicle accident led to lumbar spine MRI imaging. The radiology report raised the possibility of metastatic cancer in the spine…
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