Pamela Thomas-Hall was a stickler for her annual checkups and doctor appointments until the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Every year, on her birthday, she would get a complete checkup as a present to herself. However, her annual mammogram was canceled in March 2020 because of the pandemic.
“I said to myself, now, watch me be one of those people that fall through the cracks,” she recalled. Two years later, she felt a lump in her left breast and still had not had her mammogram.
Pamela was diagnosed with stage one breast cancer in March 2022, on her birthday. Shortly after her diagnosis, she started treatments and finished up in November 2023.
A clinical trial laid out a plan that worked for her, and the clinical trial coordinators answered all her questions. She is incredibly grateful to her UI Health Oncologist, Kent Hoskins, MD, for helping to ease her fear. As a result, Pamela shares her experiences being on a clinical trial with anyone who will listen. She encourages them to consider clinical trials, and she advises anyone considering a clinical trial to talk to their friends, family and doctors.
“I was presented with an opportunity to be in a clinical trial at that time, and I accepted it for several reasons. The primary reason is my granddaughter. And if I could do anything to make sure she doesn’t have to go through this journey, then I accepted being in a trial,” she said.
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