What happened, in summary

Nina was 34 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Her first sign was a hard strip under her left armpit, not the small pea-like lump she had been told to watch for. At first, she was reassured because she was young, had dense breast tissue, and had no immediate family history of breast cancer. A year later, the area had grown, and she noticed a dimple in the skin. She pushed for a mammogram.

Imaging showed an abnormal mass in the left breast and armpit, and the BI-RADS score was 5. Nina was first told she had Stage III breast cancer, with extensive lymph-node involvement, including internal mammary nodes. About 2 months later, additional testing showed the cancer had spread to her spine, making it Stage IV. She also learned the cancer was HER2-positive, while broad hereditary genetic testing was negative.

Before chemotherapy, Nina froze her eggs. Treatment included 6 months of chemotherapy, then a lumpectomy instead of the mastectomy first expected because the chemotherapy worked well enough to shrink the cancer. She then received about 29+ rounds of radiation to the spine and breast. As of November 2024, she described being in a no-evidence-of-disease phase, but she still needed ongoing treatment: an infusion every 3 weeks, daily medication, and monthly injections.