Breast Cancer: Marianne's Survivor Story
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Sex
- Female
- Treatment
- surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy
- Outcome
- Cancer-Free / NED
Treatment course, step by step
- Left mastectomy with removal of 19 lymph nodes, 3 of which contained cancer; 6 months of chemotherapy; 2 months of radiation therapy; and an unnamed immunotherapy given alongside other treatment for 1 year.
What happened, in summary
Marianne Gongos was 60 when a lump appeared in her left breast in 2011. She was already living with chronic myeloid leukemia, diagnosed in 1999, and had reached remission through a clinical drug trial. Surgery confirmed breast cancer, leading to removal of the left breast and 19 lymph nodes. Three of the lymph nodes contained cancer.
Treating the breast cancer required Marianne to pause her leukemia medicine, creating concern that the leukemia could return. She received chemotherapy for 6 months, radiation therapy for 2 months and an unnamed immunotherapy for 1 year. The treatment course was difficult. After losing her health insurance, she received help from a social worker and patient navigator. She also worked with a nutritionist and reduced her weight from 287 pounds to 180 pounds, which later allowed her to undergo double knee replacement.
After breast cancer treatment, Marianne restarted her leukemia medicine. She had been breast cancer-free since June 13, 2013, and her leukemia had been in remission since September 2013. She returned to traveling, swimming and spending time with friends, describing each challenge as something to take one day at a time.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by Cleveland Clinic. Read the original in full
How we source and attribute stories Accuracy and limitations
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer