Yolanda Johnson was taking a shower when she felt and saw something odd. She got out of the shower and found a lump on her breast. She called her primary doctor to schedule a mammogram. They found three tumors, and she was diagnosed with 2B triple-negative breast cancer in May 2021.
Then, she met UI Health oncologist Kent Hoskins, MD, who introduced her to a clinical trial and a treatment plan.
“Usually, they do the surgery first, then chemo. But this one with the clinical trial, it was the chemo first, and then surgery, and then radiation and everything came to work out just fine. I’m glad I started the clinical trial because it really helped me,” Johnson said.
One of her tumors was the size of a golf ball, and after just three weeks of chemotherapy and three treatments, it shrank to the size of a marble. So, the chemotherapy was working. She had surgery to remove the tumors in November 2021, followed by 35 doses of radiation. Because some cancer remained, she then had to take a chemotherapy pill for several months.
In November 2022, she was cancer-free. Because of her experience, Yolanda now advocates for clinical trials and promotes the importance of clinical trials to others. “I just want people to know that please try the clinical study, try the trials,” she said.
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