Nursing Student Battles Rare Breast Cancer With a Smile

    

 

This story comes to me from from Rebecca Snyder Benson

Here is a phenomenal scholarship fund set up in honor of one of the strongest, most amazing people I have ever met. Take some time to donate to her fund. Every little bit helps. Happy birthday Jen!

 

Mom With Rare Breast Cancer Still All Smiles

A nursing student says she is not giving up in her fight against a rare from of breast cancer.

Jennifer has been battling a rare form of breast cancer that runs in my family. She was a nursing student who was very highly ranked in her class. She has had to drop out due to her health. Since she may never have the opportunity to be a nurse, my family decided to get her a special birthday present. We have created the Jennifer Huie Scholarship that will help future nursing students at A&M-

Commerce.

You may donate by sending a check to:
Texas A&M-Commerce Foundation
PO Box 3425
Commerce, TX 75429
Please make sure Jennifer Huie is in the memo.
Click here to donate ~ www.jenhuie.com
 
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/health/Nursing-Student-Battles-Rare-Breast-Cancer-With-a-Smile-104999739.html

A nursing student says she is not giving up in her fight against a rare from of breast cancer.

If you are lucky enough to meet Jenn Huie as she makes rounds in the emergency room at Texas Health Southwest, you will likely catch her with an enormous smile.

"They call me 'Smiley,'" she said. Huie is fighting inflammatory breast cancer. The aggressive cancer accounts for less than 5 percent of all breast cancers and typically targets younger women. "My mom was diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer at 35 and it turns out she had inflammatory breast cancer, which is what I have, and she passed within nine months of her diagnosis," she said. Oncologists say mammograms can miss the cancer. Patients usually don't have a lump, but a rash. "It's actually considered a medical emergency, and it needs to be diagnosed within weeks, as opposed to months," said Dr. Cristi Aitelli at Texas Health Southwest. Huie is stage four and undergoing chemotherapy -- all while working in the ER and taking nursing classes. Her boss, Chris Lane, chokes up when he talks about Huie. He said she is an inspiration to the entire staff. "I don't try to think about it," he said. "She's come so far, and she's beat so many predictions and beat the odds so many times, and if that is how it goes, then I'll count myself lucky for having known her every single day." Huie, the mother of two boys, said her younger son doesn't quite understand her illness. "He just understands Mommy is sick, but he doesn't understand the magnitude of what's going on," she said. "He just knows that mommy is sick, and I get special medicine." Huie said her choice to fight every day is easy. "The human compassion in people gives me inspiration," she said. "To not even know me and to reach out with open arms is just amazing." She said truly living is a choice -- and so is smiling. "If I'm not going to fight for it, who will?" she said. 

"That's what I do. It's not going to beat me."

 

What is the fund?

Jennifer battled a rare form of breast cancer that runs in my family called Inflammatory Breast Cancer. 
She was a nursing student who was very highly ranked in her class. The last gift I was able to give my little sister was this scholarship fund.  My sister was never able to realize her dream of becoming a nurse, but through this scholarship she can nurse through others.  This fund will aid one nursing student each year at Texas A&M University Commerce. 

We still have lots of fundraising to go and any donation helps! 

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

By Dr. Jeff Patton of Tennessee Oncology

Inflammatory breast cancer is a unique and uncommon type of breast cancer. It is unique in that inflammatory breast cancer does not produce a distinct mass or lump that can be felt within the breast. The lack of a lump or mass also makes inflammatory breast cancer difficult to detect by mammograms. Inflammatory breast cancer cells infiltrate the skin and lymph vessels of the breast. When the lymph vessels become blocked by the breast cancer cells the breast typically becomes red, swollen, and warm. The skin changes associated with inflammatory can cause the breast skin to look like the skin of an orange, a finding called peau d'orange. The appearance of the breast is similar to other inflammatory conditions such as cellulitis or mastitis. Other possible associate symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes under the arm or above the collar bone on the affected side.
Inflammatory breast cancer is diagnosed based upon the results of a biopsy and the clinical judgment of the treating physician. Typically, inflammatory breast cancer grows rapidly and requires aggressive treatment. There are two aspects to treating all breast cancer, local treatment and systemic or total body treatment. Because inflammatory breast cancer is aggressive, most oncologists recommend both systemic and local treatment. The typical sequence of treatment is to start with chemotherapy, systemic treatment, followed by surgery and radiation therapy, which are the local treatments, often followed by additional chemotherapy and possibly hormone treatments. With aggressive treatment using this multimodality approach, the 5 year survival for inflammatory breast cancer has improved significantly from an average survival of 18 months to an approximately 50% survival rate at 5 years.

For a listing of questions and answers about inflammatory breast cancer:

Visit Beyond The Shock

INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER

How many cases of IBC are diagnosed each year?

The numbers vary, but approximately 1% to 2% of newly diagnosed invasive breast cancers (that have spread beyond the breast) in the United States are described as inflammatory breast cancers.

What are the symptoms of IBC?

• One breast larger than the other
• Red or pink skin
• Swelling
• Rash (entire breast or small patches)
• Orange-like texture (peau d' orange)
• Skin hot to the touch
• Pain and/or itchiness
• Ridges or thickened areas of breast
• Nipple discharge
• Nipples that appear inverted or flattened
• Swollen lymph nodes under the armpit
• Swollen lymph nodes of the neck (sometimes)

What should you do if you have these symptoms?

If symptoms continue for more than a week, schedule an appointment with a physician who has experience with this disease. You can also prepare a list of questions by reading through this section and watching our in-depth video Beyond the Shock^®.

What is the typical age of IBC patients at diagnosis?

The median age is between 45 and 55, but patients can be younger or older. In each individual case, the symptoms should guide the diagnosis rather than age.

How well do diagnostic tests work in identifying IBC?

IBC typically CANNOT be identified through:

• Mammogram: Because IBC usually does not occur in the form of a lump (the cancer is spread throughout breast tissue), it is difficult to detect with a mammogram. The most characteristic mammography findings consist of swelling of the skin.
• Ultrasound:This test confirms the swelling (edema) of the skin and can better identify breast nodules (if present). It also is the most appropriate test for the evaluation of lymph nodes.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI):This is probably the most sensitive test because it includes a functional description of the abnormal findings. It should be included among the diagnostic tests once the pathological diagnosis is confirmed. It is extremely useful in evaluating the clinical response to chemotherapy.
• Core biopsy:A core biopsy, or fine-needle aspiration (removal of tissue with a needle) is performed to obtain a pathological diagnosis of invasive disease, but these diagnostic procedures are not appropriate for IBC because of the peculiar growth pattern in the breast lymphatic system.

What diagnostic tests identify IBC?

IBC CAN be identified through:

• Surgical biopsy:
  Most of the time a surgical or skin biopsy is necessary. These procedures are able to collect larger samples that include the skin and underlying tissue to better identify cancer cells.
• Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scans): In the near future, this could be one of the most important diagnostic/staging tests for IBC, though it still is under study. Findings show that a PET scan enables clinicians to see more of the disease, for example:
• 
  —   PET scans show lymph nodes far from the breast that can indicate a metastatic cancer at the time of diagnosis. If staging is limited to mammograms, CT (computed tomography or computerized X-rays) and bone scans, different components of this inflammatory spreading may be missed, resulting in significant consequences for treatment and the way in which a patient is processed.

What is the survival rate for IBC?

The 5-year median survival rate for inflammatory breast cancer is approximately 40%. The main reasons for such a disappointing outcome include: a delay in diagnosis, the lack of expertise in treating IBC (because it is so rare) and the relative resistance the disease has to standard chemotherapeutic agents.
With regard to the first critical issue, it is important to keep in mind that IBC is a fast-growing cancer (it can spread within weeks), and it is often mistaken for something other than breast cancer, such as a rash or infection.

What are common mistakes in treating IBC?

A surgeon might want to remove the breast too early, which would increase the chance of local recurrence (return of the disease).
A radiation oncologist with experience in treating IBC also is important. IBC might require a different schedule than most breast cancers. You might need two treatments a day, instead of one, because this is a highly aggressive tumor. Patients also need a specific chemotherapy dose. A particular challenge with treating IBC is that it is difficult to measure response since a nodule or mass is usually not present.
If patients have had incorrect treatment, it may be hard to go back and improve the prognosis (outcome).

How is IBC currently treated?

IBC is typically treated with chemotherapy before surgery. Drugs like Herceptin® (trastuzumab) or Tykerb™ (lapatinib) are also used in a subset of IBC patients who have the HER-2 gene. One of the challenges is to improve current treatments. Efforts are focused on finding ways to eliminate microscopic disease to prolong survival.