Stage III Breast Cancer: Andrea's Survivor Story

What happened, in summary

Andrea was pregnant and around 30 weeks along when she mentioned a divot in her breast at an OB-GYN visit. A same-day breast center evaluation led to biopsy of both the breast and lymph nodes, and she soon learned she had breast cancer. Her story describes Stage IIB disease that was later considered Stage III. Treatment planning happened while she was still pregnant, and the initial plan was chemotherapy, then mastectomy, then radiation. She received 4 cycles of a pregnancy-safe chemotherapy regimen, delivered her son, and then went on to 4 cycles of Taxol. Taxol brought more intense side effects, including painful tingling that made walking difficult and rapid eyebrow and eyelash loss. Andrea then had a nipple-lift preparation surgery, followed by mastectomy with reconstruction/expanders. Recovery was emotionally hard because she could not hold her newborn son until she healed enough. Radiation followed even though she had already had a mastectomy, and it caused fatigue, nausea, and hardening of the radiated skin around the expanders. As of June 2026, Andrea was several years beyond diagnosis, reflecting on survivorship, parenting through cancer, relationship strain, and the deeper sense of purpose she found after treatment.