The most common cancer among women is breast cancer. About 18-20 percent of all struggling patients are those with HER2 positive breast cancer. This is a particularly aggressive form of the disease - cancer grows rapidly and spreads to the lymph nodes. However, the detection of the tumor at an early stage enables its complete cure - this is what happened in the case of Aleksandra Borucka, the heroine of our article. Get to know her story!
How did you hear about your illness? What prompted you to see a doctor? Did you notice any specific symptoms or was it one of the preventive visits?
The history of my illness goes back around 4.5 years. It was the first time that I felt a significant change in my left breast. So I went for an ultrasound, but the doctor did not mention anything about my suspicions. Imagine my surprise when, after the examination, I heard that everything was fine!
So I said: "Doctor, but I feel a change here." Then the gynecologist palpated and found that indeed - he could feel the tumor as well. She repeated the ultrasound, which again showed nothing, so she concluded that it was probably a harmless lipoma and invited me for another examination only in a year.
Except that six months later I got pregnant. I felt a swelling all the time, but didn't do anything about it. Nothing hurt, I had no leaks, the appearance of my breasts didn't change, so I was convinced that everything was fine. I also knew that during lactation it was more difficult to examine the breasts and I put it off for later.
While I was breastfeeding, I got pregnant for a second time, then I was breastfeeding again. It was only when the second child - Hania - was 10 months old, that my breast started to hurt. It was only one day, but I had felt for a long time that I had to check it out. I went to a good specialist for ultrasound. Still, I was hoping that my breast might hurt me by carrying my baby girl on my left shoulder.
Unfortunately, I heard from the doctor that it looks bad - I have two tumors, one below the other. At the same time, he reassured me that if he had had less experience, he would have said it was cancer, but to him it looks like a dysplastic area. However, I received a referral for a core needle biopsy and mammography.
Sorrythe biopsy showed cancer, but still in situ, that is, "in place", pre-invasive. I was referred for in-depth diagnostics to the Oncology Center. Maria Skłodowskiej-Curie in the Ursynów district of Warsaw. The doctor who performed the ultrasound there also stated that these changes looked dysplastic, to which I could already tell her that it is, unfortunately, a confirmed cancer.
Contrast mammography showed one lymph node enlarged, 11 mm. The attending doctor decided to biopsy this node and biopsy the tumor itself.
I received the exact results on December 27, 2022 - they confirmed that I have two bumps, one 2x3 cm, and 2x2 cm underneath. The suspicious lymph node was enlarged, but there were no cancerous cells in it. Microcalcifications in the area of 9 cm were also detected. Most of this cancer has been found to be non-invasive but with an invasive focus.
Several years passed from the moment you went for the first examination to the diagnosis. Did the first doctor's statement that there is nothing wrong with your breast influencing your diagnostic process?
I was thinking about it too, but the specialists I met later on in my treatment claimed that then probably nothing serious was wrong with me, because if I delayed the treatment for so long, I would probably not be there anymore …
For many people, "breast cancer" is a very broad term that doesn't mean much. It may be associated with a "terrible disease" but nothing more. Meanwhile, breast cancer is divided into subtypes, it can be, like any cancer, early or late detected. What type of cancer did you develop and at what stage of advancement was it diagnosed?
My cancer subtype is HER2 +. It is a non-luminal tumor, i.e. one that is not hormone dependent. Before I got sick, I didn't know anything about this type of cancer, and unfortunately, while browsing information about it on the Internet, I felt as if I had been caught between my eyes. Fearful, I waited for what the doctors would say.
After the diagnosis, on January 2, 2022, I was held at the council, where I was offered chemotherapy with two drugs, immediately warning that the second drug was paid. I was told that thanks to the use of these two substances, the so-called double blockage, my chances of recovery would definitely increase, so I knew I had to take advantage of it.
Exactly, for women with breast cancer diagnosed early, the introduction of the so-called double lock. Unfortunately, this type of therapy is not reimbursed in Poland. Only patients at a later stage of the disease can withuse it, and yet it is in the early stages that the chances of recovery are the greatest. Could you explain what the so-called double blockade in the treatment of breast cancer is? How did you manage to use it?
The standard, available to all women suffering from my breast cancer subtype, is targeted therapy, which blocks the HER2 receptor, thus eliminating its negative impact on the development of the disease. This blocked HER2 receptor protein cannot multiply any further, and remember that this disease subtype is distinguished by too many HER2 receptors on the surface of cancer cells. However, proteins can still bind together, and when they do, they can divide further, so it's important to use a second drug to prevent this further multiplication.
In Poland, this type of treatment is reimbursed only in women with HER2 + with distant metastases, and even metastases to the other breast or nodes do not belong to them. Only when the disease reaches the lungs, liver, brain and other organs can we talk about distant metastases.
To be able to implement the treatment, I needed PLN 80,000 to receive 7 doses of the drug. So I had to think about what to do next. I did not have such financial possibilities, but my mother, my siblings, in-laws and friends supported me. Everyone contributed to my recovery. There was also a fundraiser organized through the account set up on the Rak'n'Roll foundation website.
I didn't expect so many people to help me. I received information that people prayed for me, they wanted to support me spiritually, and thanks to this I gained strength. Even my friends' parents wrote to me that they were keeping their fingers crossed for my recovery from the disease. I was surprised that so many people would think about me, they supported me.
Thanks to the double blockade, I got a second life. Recently I heard from a doctor that I don't have any cancer cells in me. It was June 13, when I went for the biopsy results - I was afraid that they would not be good because they came very quickly, and it showed that I had a 100% response to treatment. A friend I met before chemotherapy, with the same subtype of breast cancer, who also had to arrange funds for treatment, heard that she only had 1% of cancer cells left. On the other hand, another patient I met in the hospital after mastectomy - who did not receive this type of treatment - had 15% of cancer cells left.
I would like all women with breast cancer to be able to receive the best possible treatment without having to organize a fundraiser.
And ifwe are talking about treatment - how did you manage physically and mentally?
Other patients were a great support for me. Meeting other women, talking in the corridors was that nice aspect of the treatment, so I went to chemotherapy with a good attitude. I am present on amazon forums, also on Facebook. I believe that the mutual support of women is very important because no one will understand a woman with cancer as much as another one with cancer. You can feel that you are not alone with all this, and the feeling of loneliness in a disease can be very overwhelming.
As for the treatment itself - I have the worst memories of the first and last chemotherapy, they were the most exhausting, although the last one was less in the mental context - I knew it was the last time. All the time, I was regularly expanding my knowledge about the disease, treatment, symptoms and side effects, because this knowledge gave me strength. I knew what I could face.
When we find out that someone close to us - a family member or a good friend - has cancer, we don't know how to talk to him. Either we avoid talking about it, or we use generalities such as "everything will be fine", "you must be strong". And this strength is not easy to obtain. What does a sick person really need from their loved ones?
Just such encouraging: "everything will be fine" often annoyed me - because it is not good and we know that later it may not be good either. Quite recently, when I was about to go to get my results after my mastectomy, my beloved partner Mirek told me: "I know it can be different, but we can make it, we'll deal with it." Whatever it is, we will continue to fight.
It was very important for me that people around believed that it was going to be okay. Lest I get the information: "You know, I used to know a girl like that, but she's gone." I wanted them to believe that I would get better. Not that they were saying various well-known formulas, but that they would trust that I would be he althy, because I did not always have this trust. Especially after chemotherapy sessions.
You found out about the disease at a very young age - you are 38 years old. Some young women do not even suspect that they may get sick, and older women often avoid the doctor. How would you explain to these people why prevention and regular examinations are so important?
It's hard for me to say what could make a woman who feels he althy and does not bother her, to go to a doctor after all. But I think maybe she would be convinced by the thought of her own family, especially if she has children. That he has someone to live for and who to care for. I lost my dad myself in a car accident when I was 15 - he was a great man andmy father and I am still feeling loss even though more than 20 years have passed. I didn't want my kids to experience the same.
Do you remember your first reaction to the news about the disease? How did your relatives react?
It is because of the children that I think that maybe it would be easier for me to bear the news of the disease, if I did not have them. I remember that after getting the results, I went to my car and cried out in the parking lot. I literally howled like a dog, called my sister and said that I still want to raise my children in time. I just want to live. On the other hand, when I got the results that I was he althy, I also went to the car and this time I was happy.
I'm a very emotional person, so I can't hide anything too much. Even when I tried to tell my relatives that it was okay, they still heard from my voice that the reality was different. Fortunately, these moments are behind me.
