“They said ‘We want you to come back in, we would like to do some further investigation’.”
“I knew immediately,” she said. “I took my husband with me, which I haven’t ever done in the past, but I just knew.”
Trethewey had another mammogram and a biopsy, after which it was confirmed she had a tumour in her left breast.
It was negative for the receptors of oestrogen and progesterone. She required more tests to confirm whether it was also negative for the epidermal growth factor HER2.
About 15 per cent of breast cancers are triple-negative, meaning they are negative for the two hormones and HER2 status.
Triple negative breast cancer is, in general, more aggressive, with a faster growth rate, higher risk of metastasis and higher recurrence risk than other breast cancers.
Trethewey said waiting for the HER2 result was painstaking, because if it came back negative, it would mean her cancer was triple negative.
“It was horrible, I was like ‘Please not triple negative, please not triple negative.’ And it came back absolutely triple negative, I was so gutted.”
Trethewey had been having annual routine mammograms for some years prior to her diagnosis, after her mother had battled and survived a different type of breast cancer.
She said she had felt “a little fluey” on occasion prior to the latest mammogram.
This had been the only potential symptom, in retrospect, which may have hinted at the presence of an aggressive tumour in her body. She had not felt any breast lumps.
“I went into that mammogram with no fear, with no anticipation that it would be any different to the previous 10 I had, so I was completely blindsided by it.”
She had even put off the routine appointment by one month.
“I’m a busy working mum, I rescheduled it,” she said.
Since her diagnosis, which was just last month, her life has been “upended.”
Trethewey is continuing her full-time office job, working from home, as she loses her hair and suffers nausea from the effects of chemotherapy.
Alongside chemo, she is having immunotherapy, with the unfunded cancer fighting “magic bullet,” Keytruda.
The cost of the immunotherapy is $97,000. The first $27,000 she and her family have been able to raise, while they are fundraising for the remaining $70,000 on Givealittle.
So far they have received more than $18,200.
“The research around triple negative is terrifying, if you go and look at it, it’s like ‘Oh my god, it’s going to kill me’,” Trethewey said.
However, so far the chemotherapy and immunotherapy are working.
Trethewey said the tumour upon detection by the mammogram had been 28mm.
“I couldn’t feel it at mammogram time, but by the time I saw the oncologist I could, it was growing quickly.”
Her oncologist updated her last week with good news the tumour was now reducing from the “palpable mass” it had been, to a “cottage cheese feeling texture.”
In addition, she was heartened every day by the many supporting her, from a local barber who shaved her head prior to hair loss for free, and her younger sisters who started the Givealittle campaign.
“I have a very dangerous cancer, and it’s a very aggressive cancer, but I’m going to whip it out of the park,” she said.
- Follow Erin Trethewey’s cancer journey on Facebook or support Erin to beat breast cancer. Go to Givealittle to contribute to the immunotherapy cost
