Decades of Research went into my Cancer Treatment
This story was written for Patient Action for Cancer Research in partnership with Lana.
On a spring afternoon in Connecticut, Lana sits outside, pausing occasionally as a train passes nearby. At 61, Lana lives with her husband in a home they share with a dog they “co-parent,” as well as nine chickens whose eggs, fed by kale, Swiss chard, and cilantro from a local market, supply the household. They are newly empty nesters, adjusting to the quiet after their youngest daughter graduated college and started her first job.
Until recently, Lana’s life revolved around family, work, and staying active. She is a senior project innovation manager at Henkel, overseeing beauty care product launches in hair color, styling, and treatment. Outside of work, Lana hikes, skis nearly every weekend in winter, paddleboards in summer, practices yoga, and volunteers with adaptive ski racing programs. Healthy, energetic, and with no family history of breast cancer, she had little reason to expect that a routine screening would come back anything but normal.
But in March 2024, Lana went in for her annual mammogram and ultrasound, and was asked to return for additional imaging. A biopsy followed. The results showed cancer in her right breast, initially measured at 1.6 centimeters and classified as stage one. Soon after, an MRI revealed the tumor was closer to 2.5 centimeters, shifting the diagnosis to stage two. The cancer was HER2-positive and estrogen-negative—a specific subtype that would ultimately shape her treatment.
“I had no symptoms,” Lana says. “I’d even had a breast exam with my gynecologist a month before.”
From the outset, Lana’s care unfolded with precision and collaboration. Her surgeon, Dr. Lynch, walked her and her husband through every option, supported by a care team that documented details and answered questions in real time. Based on recommendations from an oncology surgeon as well as friends in the oncology field, Lana sought care from Dr. Eric Winer at Yale’s Smilow Cancer Center, a specialist in HER2-positive breast cancer. He agreed to take her on as a patient, and soon after, her case was reviewed by a multidisciplinary tumor board—a group that evaluates treatment plans using the most current clinical evidence available.
The result was a treatment approach rooted directly in decades of clinical research. Lana began 12 weeks of treatment with the chemotherapy drug Paclitaxel, which was discovered and developed as a treatment by NCI-funded researchers. It was paired with two targeted immunotherapies designed to attack cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.—Herceptin, also developed by NCI-funded researchers, and Perjeta— The goal was to shrink the tumor before surgery, reducing the extent of surgical intervention and improving outcomes.
“For me, that research mattered,” Lana says. “It meant one chemo drug instead of two. It meant fewer side effects. It meant being treated as an individual, not a protocol.”
Chemotherapy was challenging but manageable. Lana chose not to use a cold cap to preserve her hair after a trial run caused significant headaches, opting instead to wear a wig. She did use cooling mitts on her hands and feet to reduce neuropathy, though she experienced nerve pain months later that eventually resolved. Throughout treatment, she took time off work—nearly six months—to focus entirely on healing, a privilege she does not take lightly.
“I was so grateful to be able to step away,” she says. “Not everyone has that option.”
In August 2024, Lana underwent a lumpectomy with immediate reconstruction, coordinated through her oncology surgeon and plastic surgeon. Three lymph nodes were removed and tested negative, and her margins were clear. Though she experienced complications from fluid build-up that delayed radiation treatment, she completed radiation therapy in the fall of 2024 and continued targeted immunotherapy for the following full year. Midway through treatment, her doctor adjusted her plan again, discontinuing Perjeta when it was no longer necessary.
“That’s research, too,” Lana says. “Knowing when to stop.”
Her final immunotherapy infusion took place in May 2025. She is now cancer-free.
But for Lana, the end of treatment did not signal a return to “normal.” Throughout her cancer journey, she sought out community—joining in-person support groups at Smilow, participating in programs through Anne’s Place, and engaging in yoga, meditation, massage, and movement classes designed specifically for people with cancer. After radiation, she enrolled in the Livestrong program at her local YMCA, rebuilding strength alongside others navigating life after cancer.
“These programs counteract the isolation,” she explains. “You’re surrounded by people who understand without you having to explain.”
More recently, Lana attended a ‘life after cancer’ focused retreat in California with twenty other women. She went in believing she had already moved on from her experience. Instead, she discovered that emotional healing lags behind physical recovery.
“You’re told you’re cancer-free, and everyone expects you to be okay,” she says. “But inside, there’s still fear, grief, and change. You’re not the same person you were before.”
This continues to shape Lana’s advocacy today. She participates in support groups, including those focused on survivorship, and is pushing for greater attention to the needs of former patients after treatment ends.
“I’m still healing,” she says. “And now, I want to help others heal too.”
In celebration of completing treatment, Lana traveled with her family to Iceland and London in 2025, hiking across volcanic landscapes and soaking in geothermal rivers. It was both a graduation trip for her daughter as well as a marker of survival for Lana.
For Lana, cancer brought fear, disruption, and profound challenge—but it also brought clarity. About the value of research. About the importance of community. And about healing as an ongoing process, long after the last treatment ends.
But Lana is concerned about proposed cuts to clinical research funding—cuts she believes would jeopardize the very advances that shaped her care.
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