Noel Sunne is a wife, mom and teacher. Living a busy life, she knows the importance of taking care of her health.
That’s why when she noticed changes in her body, she scheduled an appointment with her doctor.
“She recommended some imaging, they did some biopsies on those abnormalities,” said Sunne.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer. At only age 36, it was a scary diagnosis.
“Just to hear the word cancer can be really scary and overwhelming. In your good moments you’re saying ‘we caught it early, everything will be OK,’ but inevitably you will have those moments where it’s still just a daunting experience to go through,” said Sunne.
Treatment for Breast Cancer
After having a bilateral mastectomy, it was recommended she continue with additional treatment.
“We discussed her case at our multidisciplinary tumor board and I saw her because she had smaller areas of unfortunately of a more aggressive invasive breast cancer,” said breast medical oncologist, Ally Higgins, MD. “Ultimately because of her young age and these small areas of aggressive breast cancer I did offer her chemotherapy, a HER-2 blocker and hormone blockers.”
“There were definitely some days where I felt really good and days where I still felt overwhelmed and pretty low. But no matter how I came in for treatment the staff and the care team were really supportive of me and whatever needs I had that particular day,” said Sunne.
Ringing the Bell
Noel was able to ring the bell after completing three months of chemotherapy.
“I just feel like I’m getting better every week, getting back to some of those activities I was doing before my diagnosis and just feel really good. I feel like I have a new appreciation for wellness and to wake up and feel energized and really good is just a gift,” said Sunne.
“Because she chose to be aggressive with her treatment, I think she will do very well and has a low risk of the cancer coming back,” said Higgins.
Thankfully Noel’s cancer was caught early and she is now sharing this advice with others.
“Just having an awareness over your own body and knowing what’s typical and not typical and having that conversation to see what could be the cause of that, and just really relying on communication with the doctors and that’s what really led to this early diagnosis,” said Sunne.
“I think the most important thing with Noel’s case is it highlights the importance of paying attention to your body. Even if you don’t have a lot of women in your family who have dealt with breast cancer, if you notice a change, it’s important to talk to your doctor about that,” said Higgins.
Noel will continue to complete a year of the HER-2 blocker as well as several years of hormone blockers.
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