Stage IV Breast Cancer: Lie's Patient Story

What happened, in summary

Lie Huang, a 66-year-old woman from Indonesia, found an egg-sized breast lump in August 2014. She already lived with heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, so another major illness felt especially frightening. Hoping the lump would disappear, she first tried herbal medicine for about 1 month. Instead, the lump grew. In Malaysia, doctors diagnosed Stage IV breast cancer and recommended surgery, but Lie refused because she feared her body could not tolerate a major operation. Her family then learned about Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou and its minimally invasive cancer treatments. Lie traveled there with her husband in November 2014. After evaluation, her doctors planned interventional therapy plus cryotherapy. She remained stable without side effects after the first treatment course. During the second course, the tumor began to shrink, and the plan also included natural therapy and radiotherapy. About 1 year later, the breast tumor had shrunk from egg-sized to 1 cm and had lost activity. Lie’s story is framed around finding a less invasive approach that felt possible despite other chronic illnesses. Her husband described the hospital team as supportive, and the improvement helped the family regain confidence after a frightening diagnosis.