Stage III Breast Cancer: Cher's Survivor Story

What happened, in summary

Cher first noticed a sore lump under her arm after recovering from COVID and thought it might be a swollen lymph node. When it grew larger and more painful, she went for evaluation. Ultrasound and lymph-node biopsy showed breast cancer, but imaging still could not clearly show a breast tumor. More biopsies found cancer throughout the breast. She described the cancer as hormone-positive and HER2-negative, with an Oncotype DX score of 0. Although her doctors did not focus on staging language, she understood the disease as Stage IIIB: no distant metastasis was found, but the cancer had taken over the breast and spread to local lymph nodes. She had a mastectomy with removal of axillary lymph nodes; 6 nodes were involved, including 3 micrometastases and 3 macrometastases. Chemotherapy followed because of the lymph-node burden: 4 AC/Adriamycin treatments over 8 weeks, then 16 weeks of Taxol. Radiation caused severe skin pain near the end, but she completed it. After active treatment, Verzenio 150 mg was added, with a 2-year plan despite difficult side effects, along with hormone blockers planned for 10 years. She was also preparing for a preventive mastectomy and DIEP flap reconstruction. Her story is listed as no evidence of disease after treatment, while ongoing care continued.