She was diagnosed with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.
What is HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer?
HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer is an aggressive and fast-growing form of breast cancer that is considered incurable but treatable.
“Many women are living years and even decades now with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer.”
She, and many other HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients, may never enter a remission or see no evidence of disease on their scans.
When Elissa Kalver discovered a lump in her breast, she was 34 years old. She recently welcomed her first child, and she had no family history of cancer. She believed the lump to be a cyst. However, the doctors discovered another lump in her armpit when she went to have it examined. Both lumps were diagnosed as malignant by biopsies.
Additional tests revealed that the situation was worse than she had anticipated: a PET scan revealed liver and lower spine cancer. HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer was the diagnosis made for her. The Cleveland Clinic says that illnesses that have progressed to Kalver’s stage are incurable.
Kalver remarked, “I was told that there was an 80 percent chance that I would die within five years, but I wasn’t going to die tomorrow.”. “To encourage me, the first oncologist I saw said, ‘Well, I have some patients who are six or seven years out. It was absurd to hear that your goal as a 34-year-old is to live to 40. “.
The new mother had to get used to her new life very quickly.
The 38-year-old Kalver recalled, “I thought, I know other people who have experienced this, I’ll cut off my breasts, whatever we have to do to get rid of it.”. After the PET scan, I realized that I didn’t understand. Trying to comprehend that I will essentially be a cancer patient for the rest of my life was the main shift. “,”.
What is breast cancer that has spread and is HER2-positive?
The aggressive and rapidly spreading HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer is regarded as incurable but treatable. According to the Cleveland Clinic, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2, is a protein that controls cell division and growth, and it is highly expressed in patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.
HER2-positive breast cancer treatment and prognosis are contingent on the time of diagnosis and disease spread. Five-year survival rates are 97 percent for patients who receive a diagnosis before the cancer spreads. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the five-year survival rate falls to 39% for patients like Kalver.
As the head of the hospital’s Young Women with Breast Cancer center and an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Dot Shari Goldfarb says medical advancements are constantly improving the prognosis.
“The prognosis for women with HER2-positive disease has improved dramatically as a result of the numerous new drugs that have been developed in the last ten to fifteen years that target the HER2 receptor. Goldfarb stated that it was once among the most severe and aggressive subtypes of cancer. With metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer, many women are now living for years or even decades. “.
treating breast cancer that has spread and is HER2-positive.
Continuous monitoring is necessary to treat the illness, according to Goldfarb. Kalver and other patients receive scans every three to four months. They will continue receiving treatment as is if their cancer is stable or getting better. According to Goldfarb, the treatment would need to be modified if the illness was getting worse. Doctors must also take into account the side effects of treatment and the patient’s quality of life.
As stated by Goldfarb, “the general principle is to give people the best quality of life possible for as long as possible.”.
Kalver went to the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center for treatment. A vigorous course of chemotherapy was used as her initial treatment. Her oncologist, Dr. Dot Marla Lipsyc-Sharf, claims that she has received various types of treatment and taken part in numerous clinical trials during the last four years.
Kalver’s cancer was discovered to have spread to her brain approximately a year after her diagnosis.
“I always thought that was it—tumors in your brain,” Kalver remarked.
However, a specific chemotherapy that attacked the tumors by overcoming the blood-brain barrier. Kalver claimed that the masses had decreased by roughly 80% and had not increased over the previous three years.
According to Kalver, the effects of the treatments have been felt. She felt so sick after one round of chemotherapy that “it was hard to be awake,” Kalver said. She also lost her hair, which alarmed Kalver’s daughter, who was only a year old at the time. Kalver experienced symptoms such as muscle and bone pain and a bleeding rash as a result of other treatments, according to Sharf. Sharf attempts to reassess Kalver’s treatment whenever the side effects get too bad.
Kalver currently takes an oral medication twice daily and receives chemotherapy infusions every three weeks. According to her, everything is going well except for the fact that the treatment made her “a bit anemic,” which necessitated a blood transfusion recently.
According to Kalver, “I’ve really learned that we have to prioritize living, not just surviving,” after four years of chemotherapy. “I am extremely appreciative that I am still receiving effective chemotherapy treatments. “.
The phrase “Living like I’m alive”.
Kalver might need to receive chemotherapy or other treatments for the rest of her life. She might never experience a remission, and her scans might show no signs of the disease, like many other patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. After completing her first round of chemotherapy, she did ring the bell, which is a custom used by many cancer patients to signal the end of their treatment.
“Being like, ‘I’m not done with treatment, but I’m done with this treatment,’ I gave it a lot of thought before I started. “And I deserve to ring that bell,” Kalver recalled, “because this treatment was pretty hard.”. “I actually broke the bell because I rang it so loudly. “,”.
Kalver has since created new methods to commemorate significant occasions.
She honors the day of her diagnosis by celebrating what she calls a “cancerversary,” which she does every year. Kalver established “We Got This,” the first nonprofit gift registry for cancer patients, in honor of her first “cancerversary.”. Since then, she has authored a book, developed into a skilled speaker, and endeavored to inform other patients about the realities of clinical trial participation. Kalver is going to celebrate her fifth “cancerversary” in July. She is still undecided about how to commemorate the “significant accomplishment.”. “.
When she’s not working or advocating, she spends time with her husband and their 4-year-old daughter. According to her, living life to the fullest is a top priority.
“I want to live as long as I can, making the biggest impact that I can, and living the best quality of life that I can,” Kalver stated. “I truly try to live like I’m alive, and I do everything around me. “.
