Janelle Franca Correia sits in a salon chair at her Point Loma hair salon, having recently returned to work. She shares the story of why she had to step away for a while.
Life was pretty normal until about a year ago, when she got a mammogram at the age of 41. It was negative, but soon after, she started feeling some pain in her breast.
"I met my general doctor and she said, 'Do not worry. Things like this happen. Pain is not associated with breast cancer. It may be just a mass that’s touching a nerve and that’s why you’re having pain. And either way, we’ll do a biopsy and see what it is,'" Correia said.
She got the results of the biopsy through a phone call.
"It was my kids’ last day of school. I picked them up at school. Took them to Denny’s and then I got the call back. And automatically my oldest was like, 'I can tell something is wrong.' I said, 'It’s okay. I'm just on the phone with my doctor,'" she said. "So I immediately texted my husband: It came back cancerous."
One in 8 women will get breast cancer in their lifetime in the U.S. It’s the second most common cancer among women. And awareness has grown to where we now know why Major League Baseball players sometimes wear pink shoes.
Correia said she doesn't have a family history of breast cancer. But the unexplained pain made her insist on doctors having another look, despite the comforting comments she was hearing from them.
Everyone's story is different
Every person’s journey through cancer is different because lives are complex and so is breast cancer. Daniel Hollern is a cancer biologist at Salk Institute. He said he devoted himself to the field of study after two of his "heroes," — his uncle and his grandpa — died from cancer. He said cancer is a very general term for many different diseases.
“Also within breast cancer we have triple negative breast cancer, we have hormone receptor positive breast cancer. We have HER2 receptor positive breast cancer," Hollern said. "Each of those have different sort-of treatments that work. Therefore every cancer patient enters their journey from a unique place."
Hollern’s research is focused on immunotherapy. That’s teaching the immune system to attack cancer cells in a robust way.
T-cells are his attackers. But when it comes to breast and other cancers, cancer cell targets are hard to find. Some cancer is good at evading the immune system with what Hollern describes as false messages.
He’s looking for ways to activate B-cells, another part of the immune system alphabet, so they can direct T-cells toward their cancerous targets. Will this therapy become the best way to treat breast cancer?
"I think even though immunotherapy has struggled to work, it’s not a hopeless endeavor. I truly believe that this is the way to go because, you know, cancer cells can develop resistance to drugs. But when you have your immune system locked on there’s no place for it to go," he said.
Hollern’s research may hold promise for the future of breast cancer treatment. But immunotherapy wasn't an option for Janelle Franca Correia.
So she made the tough choice of having a double mastectomy. Doctors discovered a cancerous lymph node in the process, so she will begin radiation treatment next month.
She said losing both breasts, such a familiar and visible part of her, was very hard. She said the same of having to wear baggy shirts every day.
“It’s definitely been mentally and emotionally a huge challenge. I haven’t really gone to parties or anything. I just don’t want to get dressed in that sort of way yet. But the mental and emotional side has been the hugest part, and I’ve talked to lots of women who feel the same way,” Correia said.
She added that she is planning to have breast reconstructive surgery after her radiation treatment is complete.
An important lesson seen in Correia’s experience is the fact that she went back for more diagnosis even though her mammogram was negative.
"The intuition that she had to go back and have a second look is really important because sometimes you can miss things. The person knows their own body and that something doesn’t feel right. In her case going back and having that second look is probably what saved her life," Hollern said.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Susan G. Komen Foundation has been using it to fundraise and sponsor events that bring attention to the cause.
Leia Brune is executive director of Susan G. Komen San Diego. She said they are focused on bringing their message, and the therapies they underwrite, to women of all ethnic backgrounds.
'It’s the most diagnosed cancer in Latina women," Brune said. "It’s 40% more likely for Black women to die from this disease. So these are really large disparities that we need to continue just putting a focus on."
One of the culminating events of Breast Cancer Awareness Month will be the Susan G. Komen More than Pink Walk in Balboa Park. The celebratory walk takes place on Sunday, Nov. 3.
