Sandy Carpio

Living with MBC

I was diagnosed on March 14, 2011, my 46th birthday. When I was first diagnosed, I had 19 malignant tumors and my breast cavity was completely gone. It was a horrible shock to hear the words, “You have breast cancer.” I told my children and they were in shock. I told my siblings and to them, I was lying to get attention. My doctor told me that he wasn’t going to tell me how long I have left to live, but I knew I couldn’t survive very long. In July, 2012, another tumor was found, this time in my right humerus and I decided to switch doctors. I’m glad I did. This tumor put me into stage IV with bone mets. I did 6 years and 9 months of herceptin, which I am allergic to, and I will be on Arimidex for the rest of my life. 7 years later, I’m still alive, I cannot work as I have many other health issues created from treatments. I have 2 grandsons that don’t want me to die. I’m trying to stay here for them. Surviving a stage IV breast cancer diagnosis is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.