Testimonials

Shannon Watson-Iezzi

(Stage IV Breast Cancer )

In Her Own Words...

I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer at 25. Shocking and traumatic as it was I underwent chemotherapy, radiation and hormone therapy and was pronounced in 'remission' the next year.

My remission only lasted 1 1/2 years and I was re-diagnosed with stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer one month before my wedding. My cancer was back and it spread. I had 2 tumors on my liver, one in my abdomen, and about 6 in my hip bone. I knew the liver was no place to have cancer so I forced my doctor to tell my how long she expected me to live. She said 12-24 months. (I no longer go to this oncologist) I sat there and my stomach has never dropped so fast and hard. All I could think was 'you mean I most likely won't make it to 30?'. Not even a day after I spread the news to the family, my Uncle David called me and we had a conference call with Dr Nagourney. The next day I was flying out to stay at his house in Encino and meet with Dr. Nagourney.

Here is what I thought was interesting about the chemo sensitivity assay report: It said I was chemo resistant (doesn't work) to one of the drugs I had on my first diagnosis. Obviously this drug didn't work. It also said I was chemo sensitive to the drug Taxol. This is the drug I was told to not take because the side effects were "not worth it". Today there are studies that say Her II negative cancers (like mine) do not benefit from this drug. I think this just goes to show that all cancers, like people, are not created equal. So I decided to take Taxol and Avastin for my chemotherapy.

I started treatment one week before I got married. I am very pleased that things have only gotten better since I started.

My liver tumors measured 3.8 x 4.5cm and 2.3 x 2.8cm when I started. They shrunk to 2 x 2.1cm and 1.3 x 1.4cm after less than 3 months of chemotherapy. I am very excited to get my next scan to measure them because they should be even smaller. The abdominal tumor is nowhere to be seen now. I recently had a PET scan. PET scans find cancer cells by seeing if they pull glucose. If they don't pull glucose, then they are not acting like cancer cells. This showed that the liver tumors were not even acting like cancer cells. Yeah!! They are more like scar tissue now. Also only 2 of the 6 bone tumors are still pulling glucose.

Even more impressing is the tumor marker blood test I have. The test is called the CA 2729 test. The normal (you don't have cancer) range is 5-35. When I was diagnosed mine was 2,679. After two chemotherapy infusions my results went down to 1,451. Then they went down to 992, then 795, then 408, then 336, then 316, then 286 and the last test I had was 249. My doctor is talking about possibly doing 3 more months of chemotherapy and then maintaining me on hormone therapy if things keep going as good as they are.

I remember looking at Dr. Nagourney's web site and reading all the testimonials and just wishing I had a chance to tell a success story like they had. I have only been in treatment for 5 months now, but I expect my story to get better every year that passes. I am going to have one HUGE 30th birthday party I want to thank Dr. Nagourney, My Uncle David, and Dr. Nagourney's staff for being such great people and making a HUGE difference in a young girl's life.

Best Regards,
Shannon Iezzi (Watson)