Stage IV HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Survivor Story
This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Biomarkers
- Not explicitly reported; HER2-targeted treatment with Herceptin and Tykerb reported
- Sex
- Female
- Spread to
- Brain; liver
- Treatment
- chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and targeted therapy
- Outcome
- Cancer-Free / NED
Treatment course, step by step
- Initial Stage IIB treatment used A/C chemotherapy followed by Taxol and Herceptin
- Bilateral mastectomy was performed
- Completed 36 radiation treatments
- Herceptin continued for about 8 months, then stopped because heart function dropped
- After Stage IV recurrence in December 2012, Gamma Knife radiation treated brain metastases
- Xeloda plus Tykerb were used
- February 2015 craniotomy showed dead tissue from prior Gamma Knife treatment
- July liver surgery removed a single tumor
- Treatment switched from Tykerb back to Herceptin.
What happened, in summary
An unnamed mother of 4 was 37 when she was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer in December 2010. Her initial treatment included A/C followed by T/Herceptin, then a bilateral mastectomy and 36 radiation treatments. She stayed on Herceptin for about 8 months, but it had to be stopped after her ejection fraction fell. In December 2012, the cancer returned as metastatic breast cancer in the brain and liver. At first, the liver had too much disease for local treatment, so systemic therapy was the only option. Her brain metastases were treated with Gamma Knife radiation. She then received Xeloda and Tykerb. In February 2015, she had a craniotomy to remove an area in the brain that turned out to be necrotic tissue from the earlier Gamma Knife treatment, not active cancer. Later that year, she had a partial left liver lobectomy to remove a solitary liver tumor and was switched from Tykerb back to Herceptin. Her latest scans showed no evidence of disease. She described living with Stage IV breast cancer as a long-term reality, while also emphasizing rest, practical help, symptom management, and speaking up when treatment side effects become hard to tolerate.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by breastcancer.org. 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