I never thought I would be writing this update
16 April 2023
When Liz first found out she had cancer it wasn’t just cancer, it was breast cancer. And, it wasn’t just breast cancer, it was triple negative breast cancer. It was aggressive. It had already metastasized into her lymph nodes and the main tumour was very large.
Given all that I was quite honestly surprised that the possibility of a CPR (Complete Pathological Response) was even a possibility but the doctor placed the odds at nearly 50% with an extra 14% obtainable with the additional unfunded immunotherapy treatment.
I got in touch with my uncle to benefit from his oncology expertise. He told me that ‘immunotherapy doesn’t always work, but when it does it can be miraculous’.
Well today’s update is that in Liz’s case it has been miraculous.
During Liz’s recent surgery the surgeon was unable to find any remaining evidence of the tumour. They removed a number of lymph nodes and biopsied them. No live cancer cells were found. She has quite literally been told she is cured.
Of course I caution you to note that the immunotherapy drug funded through this page was one of 5 chemotherapy drugs Liz was treated with so we can only speculate about the exact role the immunotherapy played but the outcome is …. no cancer was found. Her doctors feel the combination was what worked.
In the interests of prudence her oncologist still advises that once she recovers from surgery she under-go a course of radiotherapy. The recovery from the surgery is proving to be hard-going, and it’s somewhat hard for Liz to celebrate this outcome while feeling pretty cruddy but it really is the outcome we dreamed of for her.
Liz is tremendously grateful to everyone who made it possible. The end of Liz’s cancer journey is in sight and she can look forward to watching her kids grow up.
Thank you!
