Video: Winning Against Triple Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer

I’m Naomi and I am 55 years old. I was 55 when I was diagnosed. I’m about to turn 56. I was diagnosed in October.

So I am first and foremost a Christian mother, wife. I have a degree in mathematics. I taught for almost 15 years.

Last June I noticed a familiar pain in my right hip. I have struggled with sciatic nerve pain. So, it was, you know, a pain I was accustomed to. Same place, same pain. That’s what I thought it was.

And so, we rocked along with me going a little easier at the gym. It would get better. I’d go back to the gym [laughter] or worse.

And somewhere around the end of August, I believe it was, I leaned over to get something out from under my kitchen counter randomly one day and basically caught myself before I fell. Lower part of my spine, some severe pain shot through there and it did not ease up for days.

So I thought, well, either have two different things going on or whatever’s going on on the hip has gotten worse. Anyway, started with a little local family doctor who just gave me muscle relaxers and pain pills. And I said, “Well, I’m not the kind of person take such.” So, he gave me those two prescriptions. I went home a couple of days later.

I did take one of the muscle relaxers just to see if it would help me sleep because the pain was keeping me up at night. I could have taken a sugar pill. It did nothing for me.

Went back to him. [clears throat] He orders the X-ray. I had to call a week and a half later and ask, “Do you have the results with that X-ray?” And he said, “Yes, it shows nothing. Uh, will you come in and let me give you a steroid shot? I think that will clear it up. I think it’s just some inflammation.”

So, I went in, received the steroid shot. So basically I spent probably about five to six weeks with this guy and the pain actually got worse within 24 hours of receiving that steroid shot.

We are fortunate enough to have a really good integrative doctor not too far from our home. I went to him then as soon as I could get in saw one of his nurse practitioners. I had the friendly kind they called it of breast cancer 17 years ago.

So she said just because of your history let’s order the MRI. I really was expecting it still to be something skeletal or arthritis you know but went for the MRI of the full spine and right hip and she called me about 48 hours later and said you need to see oncology yesterday. She said well we can see it is everywhere. It’s all up and down your spine on your right hip and of course with what we’ve imaged we can see part of your left hip and it’s there as well.

And we you know just fortunate enough to live in Texas I thought so I thought hey we’re next to MD Anderson that’s 4-hour drive best place in the country right according to you know do an internet search and it’ll come up number one or two every time.

The doctor I was paired with very frankly with my 14-year-old sitting in the room she didn’t even have the tact to ask would you like for her to leave the room just starts telling me that I I might live 3 years, but what I have is triple negative metastatic breast cancer stage 4 and people don’t live with it and I may I need to go home if I don’t have my final paperwork in order. I need to get it.

Just rattling off all this stuff that I’m sitting there and looking at my daughter at her reaction and trying to process that she’s just sitting there blurting all this stuff out at me.

And I said, “Wait, [laughter] I said what do you mean 3 years?”

Well, I mean 3 to five at the most. She said, “I just don’t see people live over 5 years.”

I said, “10 years? You’ve never seen anyone live 10 years with this.”

She says to me, “No, I don’t know anyone who’s made it 10 years.”

And I said, “Well, you don’t know my God.”

And so, we just started looking and Life Works. It’s funny. It was the first thing that came up when we started looking for alternative clinics.

So, I’ve told Dr. Minkoff from the beginning, I was led here. I’m supposed to be here.

My experience at Life Works Wellness Center was different from the moment I walked through the door. I went in to see Dr. Minkoff.

Dr. Minkoff was different. He was very hopeful.

He told me that the stuff that MD Anderson had said to me did not have to be my prognosis unless I wanted to accept that. And I told him I did not. I said, “I don’t think I’m going to die of this. I have a very I believe I actually said I have a very stubborn faith in God and I just don’t think this is going to be this is the season, not the end.”

He did tell me that we had an uphill battle, but he didn’t say it was absolutely unwinable.

And, and he did stress doing what following the program. I have done one full round and I am halfway through round two.

Had the last IPT on around March 11th. Went back to Texas. Had an updated PET scan on March 24th which showed significant improvement. The liver I don’t remember was the least improvement but still around I want to say 38 to 40% maybe.

Everything else was anywhere from 56 58 to about 90% reduced with almost no SUV activity or metabolic activity which Dr. Minkoff explained basically means it’s inactive almost not detectable anymore and it’s a matter of my body disposing of it now.

So very good results for for where I started.

I can’t say I was surprised that one round didn’t do it because of the diagnosis and so we decided for a second round. I am now halfway through round two.

Life is very different here because here your first and full-time job is the clinic and getting well. You come every day and, and some of these treatments are tough.

Hyperothermia is a challenge, but it’s still a very effective treatment obviously and, and it’s I’ve told Dr. Minkoff when I wake up from it, it’s the same as having a natural fever with something on that fever finally breaks and you go, “Oh my goodness. Okay, there’s my energy and I feel good.” So, I actually even, as weird as it sounds, I like the hypothermia. But that’s ,that’s your life, you know, once you sign up for the program.

And then when I get that clear PET scan? Oh my goodness, I sit around and think about it all the time. Live life a little lighter. And I mean, I’m a pretty fun-hearted person, but yeah, definitely, do some traveling that we haven’t done yet.

If anyone has the opportunity and the need for Life Works Wellness Center, I would tell them to get here as best they can.