What happened, in summary

Katie Robb Sewall was 27 when a double mastectomy in 2014 changed what she thought was stage 0 breast cancer into a Stage III diagnosis. Pathology showed the cancer had spread from the breast ducts into lymph nodes. Katie and her husband, Craig, had to move quickly on 2 fronts: planning treatment and deciding whether fertility preservation was still possible before chemotherapy. They found Dr. Halle Moore at Cleveland Clinic, whose work focused on goserelin to help protect ovarian function during breast cancer treatment. Katie first completed IVF locally, with eggs harvested, fertilized into embryos and frozen. She then started goserelin injections at Cleveland Clinic, followed a few weeks later by chemotherapy. Radiation was done closer to home. Because her cancer was hormone-sensitive, Katie stayed on goserelin for 5 years, even after chemotherapy ended. The embryos did not lead to pregnancy, but goserelin successfully suppressed her ovaries during treatment. At the 5-year mark, with no evidence of cancer, Dr. Moore cleared Katie to stop goserelin and try again. Katie became pregnant through fertility treatment and later welcomed twins, Millie and Cormac. As of December 2021, she had been prescribed tamoxifen for another 5 years to help lower recurrence risk while allowing ovarian function to continue.