Tag Archives: breast cancer treatment

2 Kids, 1 Experience

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Mia Khatib

Battling cancer is a traumatic experience for the patient and their loved ones, regardless of age. Have you ever thought about what it is like to be a child with a mother battling breast cancer? Here lies a recollection by two young adults, DJ Reed and Emma De Suyrot, about what it was like to be a 7 or 8 year-old with a mother who is battling breast cancer. 
Today, DJ is 21 and Emma is 20. Both are college juniors studying in Boston, MA. DJ is a New Yorker, through and through, while Emma is French-Japanese and was raised in …

 

The Stars of Tomorrow are the Young Investigators of Today!

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Carol

The stars of tomorrow are the young investigators of today.
Bakes for Breast Cancer will now be funding the up and coming research of young investigators in breast cancer research.   Our Medical Advisory Board will direct the best use of our funds raised in the support of the young investigators.
Funds raised in 2015 and 2016 will benefit the research of Heather A. Parsons, MD, MPH. a young investigator at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.
Heather A. Parsons, MD, MPH
We would like to introduce you to Dr. Heather Parsons and how the money that will be raised through our events in 2016 …

 

Dana-Farber team helps teacher find inner strength during breast cancer fight

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Carol

Before a diagnosis of breast cancer, a double mastectomy, and months of grueling treatment, fifth-grader teacher and mom Colleen Sullivan “never, ever” would have described herself as strong or envisioned a classroom full of 10-year-olds clapping as she removed her wig. But Colleen’s journey fighting cancer at Dana-Farber has given her a new perspective of herself—and on life.
“Life is a gift,” she says. “I now understand the idea of stopping to smell the roses.”
Colleen was diagnosed after her primary care doctor found a lump during an annual physical. Within days, tests confirmed that she had invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). As …

 

Breast Cancer Time Outs

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Jean

When you are going through treatment you need to take as many time outs from all things breast cancer as your schedule permits and you can physically handle. You will feel the better for it emotionally.
Even the smallest escapes help; sitting in a movie theater viewing an upbeat movie, or watching  TV without interruptions, or curling up with  a good book for a few hours.
On days that you feel up to it, get out and do something that you enjoy, something you did regularly before breast cancer treatment. If you feel your best when you get up in the morning, …

 

Things to Remember Following a Mastectomy

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Jean

Those of us who have had a mastectomy or bilateral mastectomy need to be aware of certain situations that can occur after having a breast or breasts removed. What follows is a list of some of these things:
Phantom Breast Pain – You may have a  feeling pain in the breast that has been removed.
Phantom breast pain can happen after mastectomy for the same reasons phantom pains happen after limb amputations. The brain continues to send signals to nerves in the breast area that were cut during surgery, even though the breast is no longer there.
Phantom breast pain after a mastectomy …

 

Five reasons to be optimistic about the future of cancer treatment

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Carol

It’s not always easy to recognize that we live in a golden age. Too often we fail to appreciate the amazing things going on around us because we‘re so caught up in day-to-day activities and pressing demands that we presume that the extraordinary is rather ordinary.
So it may be with cancer treatment in 2012.  And the future looks to be even better – not necessarily easier, simpler, or cheaper, but unequivocally better.
Here are five reasons why.
Divide and conquer
Incredible progress in cancer biology has allowed us to identify many new subtypes of cancer, based not only on the organ or tissue …

 

A Mother’s Day Gift

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Jean

This Mother’s Day, give the gift of the mammogram nag.
Reach out to those mothers and grandmothers that you know haven’t been getting annual mammograms and remind them that it is time for them to get that mammogram they have been putting off for so long.
You will hear the usual excuses for not getting a mammogram:

Too busy…no woman is so busy that she can’t take a half hour to have a life-saving screening
Can’t afford it…Call local Departments of Health for sites that offer free mammograms
Afraid of the outcome…most of us are afraid, but we are more afraid of having breast cancer
It …

 

MRI Results

Posted on March 13, 2012 by April Yablonsky

No news is good news when it comes to test results. I didn’t hear anything all week and found out yesterday that my MRI was all clear. What a huge relief! I had my appt yesterday with my medical oncologist. She is wonderful and my favorite doctor. It isn’t because she hugs me every time she sees me, though that does help. It’s because I can tell that she cares about what happens to me and she listens to my symptoms, fears, etc. and has intelligent, thoughtful and easy-to-understand answers.
Yesterday she and I talked a lot about a secondary medical …

 

Dating Through Cancer: My Love Story

Posted on February 14, 2012 by April Yablonsky

Our Wedding Day in September, 2010
Since today is Valentine’s Day, I thought I would tell you a bit about my Valentine – my husband. I met Marc in August of 2007, just three weeks before being diagnosed with Breast Cancer. We’d been out a few times, and I had no idea how to tell him the news. We hadn’t even had ‘the talk’ about being in an actual relationship. I thought for sure that my summer fling was going to run for the hills.
After I told my immediate family about my diagnosis, I called Marc to tell him. I will …

 

Not the Ideal Patient

Posted on February 7, 2012 by April Yablonsky

I am a really difficult patient. I have a major fear of IVs and I cringe whenever I see one. My husband changes the channel anytime there’s a needle on TV whether it be on a commercial or one of our favorite shows. I cry when I have to have blood drawn and I freak out at the site of an IV. I’ve been like this my whole adult life, so when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 28, part of the horror was knowing how many hours I would be spending at the hospital scared …