About

Hello, my name is Debra (Debi)! I’m a 39-year-old woman who has been a highly active and healthy athlete my entire life who just received a breast cancer diagnosis on July 25th, 2023. After many tests, the diagnosis was determined to be Stage 4 Malignant Phyllodes Tumor of the breast. It is so rare that it makes up less than 1% of all breast cancer diagnosis. The test also showed nodules on my lungs, a tiny spot on my left ovary, and a mass in my uterus.

Once the diagnosis was determined, my cancer journey took off. It started with a wide radical mastectomy of my left breast with no reconstruction on August 21st. They removed a 18x14x10 centimeter and 2,500 gram well encapsulated mass and found no malignancy or lesions around the mass which means they got all the cancer out of the breast area. 

I then started my first round of chemotherapy on September 11th to attack the nodules in my lungs. I’m on an extremely aggressive chemo regimen which requires me to be hospitalized for 6 days each session. I receive two types of chemo each time. One is a 24-hour regimen of Doxorubicin and the second is a 3-hour regimen of Ifosfamide. I also receives medications to help with the side effects of chemo.

I have currently completed six of the six scheduled sessions as of February 3rd, 2024. I have received two sets of updated CT scans since the initial diagnosis which shows the masses responding and shrinking 30% every two chemo sessions I received.

On March 1st, 2024, my newest CT scan showed immense improvement and I was placed on a maintenance plan where my team told me they would be watching and re-scanning me in June. I received this news on March 14th in the morning and later that day around 12pm, I was in full convolutions in my room with my parents calling 911 because something was not right.

I was taken to the ER where they ran an EKG (which was normal) and a CT scan of my head (due to weakness on my left side). They found a brain tumor and decided to get an MRI to confirm and see it in more detail to determine a course of action. The decision was made on Friday March 15th, 2024, to go in for a Craniotomy. It was a 4-hour surgery where they removed a golf ball size tumor from the Right parietal posterior part of my brain.

Once the surgery was completed, they did another CT which shows the tumor had been completely removed.
I currently have a plate in my head to help my skull heal as well as twenty-two staples that closed my 10.5 cm incision. 

I was referred to a radiation oncologist to discuss the next steps as chemotherapy does not affect brain tumors like radiation and surgery due to the extra barrier of protection we have in our brains.
The decision had been made to be given a Gamma Knife Radiation treatment to use as a precaution to make sure all cancer cells have been removed.
The entire tumor was removed during surgery however there could be a possibility of tiny left over cells and they want to target and treat whatever they find.

I will do one radiation treatment and then have an MRI one month after to see my new baseline and then from there I will be scanned about every 3 months to make sure everything stays clean. If something does come back, they will treat via radiation again.

I have remained strong in my Faith and continues to take things one day/step at a time.
I’m a fighter and continue to show an amazingly cheerful outlook throughout this journey so far and will continue to do so.

I’m currently posting my journey on my Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/fight4acure if you would like to follow along.

---