Stage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Loli's Patient Story
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Biomarkers
- HER2-positive
- Sex
- Female
- Spread to
- Liver
- Treatment
- surgery, breast reconstruction, chemotherapy and a clinical trial
- Outcome
- Living With Cancer
Treatment course, step by step
- Initial HER2-positive breast tumor diagnosed about 4 years before the story after breast hardness and urgent ultrasound/biopsy
- mastectomy with removal of some lymph nodes and immediate reconstruction
- preventive chemotherapy
- recurrence on the same side about 2 years later
- lymph node removal and chemotherapy, paused during the pandemic
- liver nodule found on follow-up, confirming liver metastasis from the breast tumor
- referral to ICO
- clinical trial proposed
- ongoing chemotherapy every 21 days as part of treatment planned for life.
What happened, in summary
Loli was 63 when she shared the story of having breast cancer 3 times. About 4 years earlier, she felt a hard area in her breast, like mastitis, and quickly saw her gynecologist. An urgent ultrasound and biopsy led to a HER2-positive breast cancer diagnosis. Treatment moved fast: she had a mastectomy, removal of some lymph nodes, immediate reconstruction, and chemotherapy given as prevention. She gradually returned to daily life until, about 2 years later, she noticed a small mark on the same side. The cancer had returned. Doctors removed lymph nodes and restarted chemotherapy, but treatment had to be paused during the pandemic. Months later, a follow-up visit found a nodule in her liver. The breast cancer had caused liver metastasis, and her oncologist referred her to ICO because she needed treatment not available at her original center. There, her doctor proposed a clinical trial. Loli was unsure at first, but her husband encouraged her to see it as an opportunity. As of March 2022, she was receiving chemotherapy every 21 days and trying to accept that treatment might be lifelong. Side effects were different from her first chemotherapy, and she remained grateful that research gave her another option.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by MatchTrial Historias Reales. 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