Hear candid conversations between people conquering cancer – patients, their family and friends, and doctors and researchers working to help us all.
Conquering Cancer Since She Was 3 Years Old
Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a cancer so rare that some oncologists have never heard of it.
Brittany, a young wife and mom who live near Nashville, Tennessee, learned about it when she was three years old. She has been conquering it ever since.
Since her childhood diagnosis, Brittany’s cancer has returned five times. Most recently in 2012, a team of doctors discovered a sizable, inoperable tumor inside her heart. She was three-months pregnant.
Cancer Research Leads to Breakthrough Treatments
“Throughout the pregnancy and for several years after, we waited to see if the cancer would grow, and then tried a treatment that failed,” recalls Brittany. “I had widely metastatic cancer, a husband, a two-year-old daughter, and a lot to lose.”
The same year Brittany’s ASPS returned, researcher Breelyn Wilky, MD, was the recipient of a Young Investigator Award that allowed her to continue researching rare sarcomas like the cancer Brittany had. Brittany enrolled in a new clinical trial run by Dr. Wilky.
After completing the trial, Brittany shows no evidence of disease and is enjoying life with her husband and their daughter.
How do you manage joy when cancer eclipses life’s most precious moments? In this intimate conversation, Brittany Sullivan and her husband, John, reveal what kept them going.
