Finding Hope While Facing Breast Cancer and Possible Infertility
Diagnosed with triple negative stage II B breast cancer in July 2009, Robin Redfern faced many obstacles during her battle with cancer. Triple negative cancer is only found in 20 percent of all breast cancer cases and is characterized by being more aggressive and more likely to recur than other types of breast cancer. “When someone hears they have cancer, it’s like being told you are going to die. When I went to Magee for treatment, I never felt that way. I was always given hope,” says Robin.
Following Robin’s diagnosis, her and her husband, Chad, sought the help of fertility specialist Joseph Sanfilippo, MD. For years they longed to have a baby. With Dr. Sanfilippo’s guidance, the Redferns were going to try to conceive a baby through in vitro before Robin underwent cancer surgery and treatment. When the first in vitro round failed, they were devastated and “unable financially and emotionally to keep going.” Robin was given three shots of the drug Lupron in an effort to “shut down” her ovaries. Since Lupron decreases the amount of blood received by the ovaries, it reduced the chances that the chemotherapy would destroy Robin’s ovaries and increased the likelihood of her ability to conceive after her battle with cancer. According to her oncologist, Rachel Jankowitz, MD, all they could do is wait to see if the shots worked because it could take Robin’s ovaries a few months after the chemotherapy to return to its previous, healthy state.
“It was very hard to wrap my mind around the whole concept of what was happening to me. I not only had cancer, but I also had to deal with the fact that I might never be able to have a baby because of the cancer. It was a lot to deal with all at once,” says Robin.
Though overwhelmed, Robin looked to the guidance of Magee’s doctors and nurses for help and support. When Robin called Magee with a question about how to administer a new drug, Melanie Ochalski, MD, a Reproductive Endocrinology-Infertility fellow working with Dr. Sanfilippo, promptly returned her call and walked her through every step of the process. Even after long days of biopsies and examinations, Dr. Joseph Kelley, her lumpectomy surgeon, and Drs. Jankowitz and Sanfilippo routinely checked in with Robin. “I was so touched by those phone calls. When you are going through a terrible time in your life and you are sick on top of all the emotions you are going through, it really means a lot when the people taking care of you actually call you to see how you are,” says Robin.
Chemotherapy side effects proved to be a terrible time for Robin. However, nurses such as Rosann Berube at the Women’s Cancer Center were always there to offer support. “Rosann would do anything to try and make me more comfortable, even if it was an extra blanket because I was cold. Sometimes I would just sit there and cry and she would always bring me Kleenex and touch my shoulder or hold my hand for a minute,” says Robin.
Today, Robin waits to undergo 36 rounds of radiation therapy. “I have not found out about the status of my fertility yet…I am still praying the [Lupron] shots worked,” says Robin.
While Robin admits that she “could tell many more stories of the number of compassionate people that she ran into at Magee,” she begins her radiation treatment feeling that “Magee-Womens Hospital is not just a hospital. It’s a place where people really do care and it shows.”
Opportunities for Giving: Breast Cancer Research & Education
Learn More: The Center for Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology
Learn More: Magee's Breast Cancer Program
Related Story: Just Call Me 'Mom'
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