Stage IV Breast Cancer: Lindsey's Patient Story

What happened, in summary

Lindsey Ballas was balancing work, family and cancer care after being diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. She owned a hair salon and wanted treatment to disrupt her life as little as possible. Her main goal was to keep life close to normal while still doing what was needed to control the disease. Lindsey’s treatment plan did not include a mastectomy or radiation. Instead, she went through 6 rounds of chemotherapy. Even with side effects, she kept working with help from family, friends and a large client base that supported her through treatment. After chemotherapy, Lindsey continued advanced targeted therapy as maintenance treatment every 3 weeks. She described it as treatment she would remain on for the rest of her life to stabilize her cancer cells. As of September 2017, she was spending significant time at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center for treatment, scans, echocardiograms and blood work, but she used the time to catch up on calls, text clients or simply rest. The newer cancer center helped by keeping clinical and support services in one place, making long treatment days easier. Lindsey was living with metastatic breast cancer, but she continued running her business and staying connected to daily life outside the clinic.