Help Brenda beat triple negative breast cancer

On March 26, 2023, doing a self-breast exam, I found a lump on my left breast. After having diagnostic imaging done on April 20th, I was told I had breast cancer with a suspected 2cm tumor and 2 involved lymph nodes. On May 11th, the cancer was confirmed through biopsy and the prognosis was stage 2B triple negative breast cancer. At the age of 43, this diagnosis is not common for someone so young. Triple negative breast cancer is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype with the poorest prognosis and survival rate. The 5-year survival rate for this regional cancer (meaning not beyond the breast and sentinel lymph node) is 65%. If it does metastasize, the survival rate drops to 12%. Additionally, my cancer has a proliferation rate of 96%. This means the cancer cells are dividing and duplicating at a pace very close to 100%. This subtype has a very high rate of metastasis, typically moving into the brain, bones, liver and lungs. Unlike a hormone positive breast cancer, it is unknown what drives triple negative breast cancer. This makes treatment very difficult and there are no targeted therapies. To complicate things further, through genetic testing, I have found that I have the BRCA1 gene mutation, which is attributed to many difficult-to-treat cancers and I am more susceptible to additional cancers, such as ovarian and pancreatic.

The good news is all imaging done at the end of May has shown no metastasis! The tumor did show growth in that time from 2cm to 3cm, which is extremely fast. The cancer is showing that it may be moving into the chest wall, which will make treatment more difficult than it already is. With this aggressive cancer, treatment needs to be equally as aggressive. I was not a candidate for conventional surgery to remove the tumor without enduring 9-12 months of conventional chemo, but they could still not guarantee the surgery eligibility after chemo had been completed. After consulting an integrative oncologist, I chose to pursue alternative therapies that have a higher success rate with triple negative breast cancer and began these treatments on June 21st. These treatments are 100% out-of- pocket as insurance will not cover alternative/complementary therapies. Six weeks of treatment is $13,765. Required daily supplements and medication total $800, per month, in addition to the in-clinic therapies. I am having a great response to the treatment, my quality of life is minimally affected and there are still no signs of additional growth or metastasis in the last month.

Upon further research and consultation with my integrative oncologist at Immersion Health in Portland, I was referred to 2 medical oncologists in Seattle to receive low dose chemotherapy and immunotherapy. I have chosen to use Seattle Integrative Cancer Clinic and will begin Taxol, Carbo and Keytruda infusions in the next week or two. This doctor specializes in late stage and triple negative breast cancers with extremely high success rates of healing cancer. The low dose chemo treatments will be covered by insurance, but the financial toll is very high as I will be traveling from Portland to Seattle for weekly treatments, as well as having to reduce working for the foreseeable future to 1-2 days, per week, while receiving these life-saving treatments. With the chemotherapy and integrative treatments, I will have appointments 3 days a week with each treatment taking roughly 4-6 hours, per day. A port placement was performed on July 10th to prepare for chemotherapy infusions. The balance for diagnostic imaging, lab work and the port placement (so far) has exceeded $7000 out-of-pocket.

The procedure I have chosen to address the cancerous tumor and lymph nodes is cryoblation. The doctor I will be trusting to perform this procedure is Dr. Hania Bednarski located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. At this time, there are no doctors that perform this procedure in Oregon or Washington. This procedure is currently working towards FDA approval and should be approved next year. The success rate is very high with cryoblation and is without major deformity and risk experienced with conventional surgery. This is an exciting procedure that has extremely positive results to freeze the tumor, boost the immune response and not destroy healthy tissue or be forced to remove lymph nodes. Because this is not FDA approved, this procedure will be an out-of-pocket expense with a cost of $14,420. We will also incur travel costs, with flights and lodging, for this amazing procedure. I am hoping to have this procedure performed the first week of August.

To-date, we have already paid $23,000 for the various treatments, diagnostics, medications and appointments. This does not include chemo or cryoblation. We will easily surpass $100,000 in out-of-pocket expenses.

Once I’m through this journey, I hope to use my story to become an advocate for cancer patients and create a platform to help educate on alternative therapies, lifestyle changes and prevention.

I am leaning heavily into prayer, meditation and staying as happy and positive as possible through this chapter. I know I will make it through and want so badly to be able to see my 23-year-old military son get married and have grandbabies! To see my 10-year-old bonus daughter go to prom and graduate high school. To experience life with my husband and furbabies. Prior to this diagnosis, I was working towards a certification, and future non-profit status, to begin a training program for shelter dogs with behavioral issues. Animal rescue is something I’m passionate about and having to step back from it during this time has been extremely difficult. I also planned to complete my Master’s degree in addiction counseling with the hope to serve our veterans and youth struggling with addiction. I know my body and mind are strong enough to heal this cancer and I would love to be able to get through this and chase my passions.

My family and I are grateful for any support we receive during this time! We have been blessed with an amazing support system of friends and family. I could not do this without all the support I am receiving!