What happened, in summary

Kathleen McEvoy-Schufreider was first diagnosed in 2011 with early-stage HER2-positive, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. She joined a clinical trial and received 16 weeks of paclitaxel with trastuzumab. After surgery, she received 4 doses of AC chemotherapy, radiation, and then tamoxifen for 5 years. In early 2018, rib pain led to the discovery that the breast cancer had returned in her liver and bones, making it metastatic. Kathleen then received 26 weeks of paclitaxel, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab. She later joined the PATINA trial, which combined a CDK4/6 inhibitor with hormone therapy and trastuzumab as maintenance treatment. A separate early-stage endometrial cancer in 2022 temporarily interrupted that regimen. After completing treatment for the other cancer, she resumed the breast cancer trial drugs with insurance coverage. At age 60, Kathleen continued infusions every 3 weeks. She had learned to look beyond each 12-week scan interval, drawing hope from long-term survivors, research progress, her family, and activities such as paddleboarding.