Shannon Bernhart

Survivor

Shannon’s Stage 3B Story

I was diagnosed with stage 3B inflammatory breast cancer after I was cleared to carry a baby. I had just been healed from a myomectomy. I felt a egg-sized lump in my right breast that burnt in the summer sun. I had an ultrasound, a biopsy and an MRI to confirm the cancer. The cancer spread to my lymph nodes.

I started 16 rounds of chemo a month later, then a bilateral mastectomy and 30 rounds of radiation. There were still cancer in my lymph nodes after chemo. So, I needed to start radiation. It was a very long year. I am now starting tamoxifen along with a chemo pill called Verzenio. I will be on this treatment for 10 years. If I want to have a baby, I can stop it temporarily. But, I need a PET scan first to confirm there are no cancer cells left in my body. Then we will proceed with reconstruction and hopefully a baby. But, I am alive and trying to feel back to normal.