Stage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Kathleen's Patient Story
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Biomarkers
- HER2-positive, hormone receptor-positive
- Sex
- female
- Spread to
- liver, bones
- Treatment
- clinical trial, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, surgery, radiation and hormone therapy
- Outcome
- Care Ongoing
Treatment course, step by step
- In 2011, she joined a clinical trial and received 16 weeks of paclitaxel plus trastuzumab.
- She then underwent surgery.
- She received 4 doses of AC chemotherapy.
- She completed radiation.
- She took tamoxifen for 5 years.
- After recurrence in 2018, she received 26 weeks of paclitaxel, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab.
- She then joined the PATINA trial using a CDK4/6 inhibitor, hormone therapy, and trastuzumab.
- After a treatment interruption for a separate endometrial cancer, she resumed the breast cancer trial drugs and continued infusions every 3 weeks.
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.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by Dana-Farber. Read the original in full
How we source and attribute stories Accuracy and limitations
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team. Read the full disclaimer