What happened, in summary

Stephani St. Cyr felt a long lump under her right arm while watching a movie at home. Her primary doctor suspected a cyst but referred her to a specialist. The breast cancer doctor immediately suspected cancer, and biopsy confirmed it. Further tests showed the cancer had already spread to her bones and liver, and in March 2019 Stephani was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. She began treatment with 6 rounds of chemotherapy, followed by 1 year of trastuzumab/Herceptin and pertuzumab/Perjeta. In June 2021, dizziness led to more testing, and doctors found a brain tumor. Surgery was scheduled quickly, and the tumor was removed within a week. Her treatment was changed to trastuzumab deruxtecan/Enhertu, which initially made her sick before her body adjusted. Later, she moved to trastuzumab plus tucatinib/Tukysa and capecitabine. As of March 2025, Stephani had remained without evidence of disease since July 2021. Faith, advocacy, family, and service became central to how she lived with metastatic breast cancer. She also used her experience to encourage self-education, genetic testing when appropriate, and better access to breast cancer information in Black and Brown communities.