Breast cancer survivor believes, ‘My body may have cancer, but cancer doesn’t have me’
In 1999, Carol Martin, then 49, was facing a mastectomy when diagnosed with breast cancer after a needle biopsy of a lump she discovered in her right breast had proven positive. Now 71, Martin says, “My doctor wanted to immediately take me in and do surgery. He said ‘If it’s cancerous, then we’ll take the breast,’ and they wanted to schedule me for surgery the next week.”
But Carol decided she would have to delay the surgery because she had booked a cruise with friends that was set to leave the upcoming Saturday, and it was nonrefundable.
Still reeling from the diagnosis, Martin managed to enjoy her time in the Caribbean. But immediately upon her return home, she started researching and reaching out for advice and support. Through a friend, she learned of a clinical research study looking for women with breast cancer who
were otherwise healthy. With no family history of breast cancer or other medical issues, she thought the study might be worth exploring.
Dr. Patricia DeFusco, an oncologist who is currently the medical director of the breast program at the Hartford
HealthCare Cancer Institute, was part of the national clinical trial.
“Carol first came to me in 1999. So, she and I have a long history together,” says
Dr. DeFusco. “The trial she participated in was one of the first trying to see if we could give chemotherapy first to shrink the cancer and then do surgery later. It
was pretty exciting at the time.”
For decades, the standard treatment for breast cancer diagnosed at any stage was surgery followed by chemotherapy and often radiation. For Martin, the new approach successfully shrunk the tumor. Instead of undergoing a mastectomy, she had a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous breast tissue instead of the entire breast.
The treatment worked. In 2009, Martin
took a trip to Jordan to celebrate a decade of being cancer-free. Upon arriving home, she had her annual breast exam. Exactly 10 years and 30 days after the first diagnosis, she learned she had cancer in
her left breast.
“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” she says. The left breast cancer was an independent event with totally different features than the previous one. It was less aggressive but more extensive. It also required a mastectomy.
“Women with a personal history of breast cancer are at higher risk to develop a new cancer in the opposite breast over time, and that is what happened here,”
Dr. DeFusco says.
Throughout her experience, Martin learned to be her own advocate by doing thorough research, asking a lot of questions and reaching out to her network. It’s how she found Dr. DeFusco at Hartford HealthCare, why she decided not to take one of the medications available during the first trial and how she prepared for treatment following a third
diagnosis of recurrent metastatic breast cancer that appeared in a lymph node and
her bones in 2019.
“Carol started treatment with hormonal therapy and a drug in the CDK 4/6 inhibitor family,” says Dr. DeFusco, describing a class of drugs that target enzymes called CDK4 and CDK6 that are important in cell division. “Her bones have shown signs of healing, her lymph
node shrank and there has been no clear progression of her cancer.”
Today, Martin is still living life to the fullest. Some days are harder than others, but she continues to travel to places like Egypt and Costa Rica. Her message is one of resilience and facing the obstacles life
presents with a sense of humor.
“It’s just a pothole on the road of life,” she says. “My body may have cancer, but it doesn’t have me. “
For more information about breast
cancer and the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute, attend Hartford
HealthCare’s Facebook Live event on Oct. 14 at 12:30 p.m. or call 833-444-0014.
—Jessica Chesler for Hartford HealthCare
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