Stage I Breast Cancer: Rosanna's Survivor Story

What happened, in summary

Rosanna Silber was 31, finishing a doctorate in nursing and planning her wedding, when she noticed a pea-sized lump in her left breast. A local doctor thought it was likely a benign cyst, but Rosanna knew her body and pushed for more testing after returning from vacation. Ultrasound, mammogram and biopsy confirmed Stage I breast cancer. At MSK, surgeon Kimberly Van Zee discussed treatment options that took Rosanna’s future fertility and hope to breastfeed into account. Although removing only the left breast was discussed, Rosanna chose a double mastectomy because she was young and worried about future recurrence. After surgery, she froze her eggs before starting chemotherapy. She received 8 infusions over 16 weeks, with her final treatment on 1 April 2017, then went on to celebrate her wedding and later joined MSK Kids as a pediatric nurse practitioner. A natural pregnancy followed, but a routine Pap smear found abnormalities, and Rosanna was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 23 weeks pregnant. Her MSK team monitored the cancer closely so she could continue the pregnancy. Her daughter Pia was born on 13 August 2018, and 6 weeks later Rosanna had surgery that removed the cancerous cells while preserving her reproductive organs. She later had no evidence of cancer and continued regular breast and cervical follow-up.