Mass. — Even though Breast Cancer Awareness Month just ended, doctors and researchers have made tremendous advancements in treatment options, allowing women with metastatic breast cancer to live longer and fuller lives.
One of the reasons? More and more patients are participating in clinical trials that are not only helping them right now, but also future patients as well.
Fifteen years ago, Michele Milso felt like she was in the best health of her life.
“I was working out like six, seven times a week and eating well, and they found a lump during a mammogram, and I went to have it biopsied and long story short, you know, you have breast cancer,” said Michele Milso of Bridgewater.
She underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation to get rid of the cancer.
“So, you know, at the end of that, it was like, okay, you know, I think we’re good, we think you’re all set,” Milso thought.
But about a decade after her diagnosis, she felt a weird numbness in her chin. After getting an MRI, she found out her cancer had come back—in a much more aggressive form.
“It metastasized cancer throughout my skeletal system,” said Milso. “So my skull, my neck, clavicle, sternum, ribs, femur, iliac.”
Now living with metastatic breast cancer, Michele decided to go to Dana Farber for her treatment. That’s where Dr. Erica Mayer, the Director of Breast Cancer Clinical Research, gave her the option of being part of a special trial to see if new medicine would work better.
“She had a terrific response to the treatment,” said Dr. Erica Mayer, the Director of Breast Cancer Clinical Research at Dana Farber. “And she’s not the only one. There are women from all around the world who joined that trial who similarly had a great response with the new treatment.”
Dr. Mayer says these trials serve as an extra tool in the toolbox, allowing patients to get future therapy years in advance.
“We make sure that there are exquisite protections so that patients are safe and they are well cared for, and that they are not put in a place where they would be at risk or feel like it was out of control,” said Dr. Mayer.
And that can be a challenge sometimes—trying to get patients to volunteer for the trials. But for Michele, it was a no-brainer.
“I think what’s important for people to know is that it’s not the end of the road,” said Milso. “It’s just another opportunity for you to be on a drug that hasn’t been out there and utilized a lot, but it’s something that can potentially give you quality of life, that it’s not a scary scenario. It’s just a drug that hasn’t been FDA-approved.”
Michele is currently on another trial and says that despite living with metastatic breast cancer, she feels confident when she walks through these doors.
“I’m grateful, first of all, because my quality of life is great,” said Milso. “I’m so grateful because these are people that on a daily basis, their passion is to try to find ways and therapies, you know, to get rid of cancer, you know, for for everybody.”
“I know that you know in the years to come, as we’re offering these new therapies, it’s because of Michele and her contributions that have helped us improve how we take care of all patients with breast cancer,” said Dr. Mayer.
Dr. Mayer says her research team received very positive results on the first trial Michele was on. She hopes soon the drug that was used will soon become an FDA-approved option to treat patients with metastatic breast cancer.
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