Living Proof

As I attempt to write about all the people that are helping me through this journey, it's kinda weird to start with someone I have never met. This is Dr. Dennis Slamon MD, PhD, director of Clinical/Translational Research. He is a professor of medicine, chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and executive vice chair for research for UCLA's Department of Medicine. Dr. Slamon is the reason I was not given a terminal breast cancer diagnosis.

In the early 1990s, women with the HER2+ subtype had an average life expectancy after diagnosis of three-to-five years. Today, women with the HER2+ type of breast cancer now have among the best prognoses of women with breast cancer.

Dr. Slamon fought a 12-year battle to keep his research moving forward so the millions of HER2+ women could fight our personal battles to become cancer free. His revolutionary development of the monoclonal antibody Herceptin cuts off the food source for my type of cancer. In fact, it works so well that after my first round of chemo, my oncologist could no longer feel my tumor!

There is a great movie called Living Proof which tells the story about Dr. Slamon's perseverance and the amazingly brave women who participated in the trials to prove this regimen. I cannot put into words my immense gratitude for everyone who helped make Herceptin the standard of care. I will survive because of you.