Breast Cancer: Theresa's Survivor Story
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Biomarkers
- Hormone receptor-positive; exact receptors not fully specified
- Sex
- Female
- Treatment
- surgery, hormone therapy and radiation
- Outcome
- Survivorship / Completed Treatment
Treatment course, step by step
- Earlier lip cancer was treated with Mohs surgery
- 2013 breast cancer was treated with bilateral mastectomy and reconstruction instead of lumpectomy
- A tumor test made chemotherapy optional, and she chose not to receive chemotherapy
- Radiation was not needed after the first breast surgery
- Tamoxifen was started, stopped after liver failure, restarted in 2014, and later stopped after serious side effects
- Melanoma was later removed from her back
- Later breast/chest-wall recurrence was removed surgically and treated with about 3 months of radiation
- No breast-cancer chemotherapy was stated.
What happened, in summary
Theresa first faced cancer in 2008, when a painful spot on her lip was biopsied and diagnosed as lip cancer. It was treated with Mohs surgery. Five years later, in 2013, she noticed her left breast looked larger and felt painful. Instead of a typical lump, she felt a hard mass. Mammogram, ultrasound, and biopsy confirmed breast cancer. Her team discussed lumpectomy versus bilateral mastectomy, and Theresa chose bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. A tumor test made chemotherapy optional, and she chose not to receive it. She also did not need radiation after that first breast surgery. Because her cancer was hormone receptor-positive, she started tamoxifen during reconstruction. The drug was stopped after liver failure, restarted in 2014, and later discontinued after serious complications, including strokes, heart rhythm problems, brain aneurysms, and a craniotomy. In 2019, a routine skin check found melanoma on her back, which was removed early. Later, Theresa felt a pea-sized hard spot in the same breast area. Scans did not show cancer elsewhere, but cancer was found across the chest wall. She had an excision followed by about 3 months of radiation from the sternum through the back. As of October 2025, Theresa described herself as 6 years out from that later recurrence and living as a 4-time cancer survivor.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by The Patient Story. 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