Actress Meredith Baxter, 75, is enjoying her golden years with her wife after beating early-stage breast cancer.
She was diagnosed in 1999, and since then, advancements in the breast cancer field have improved patient lives.
"Early-stage breast cancer means that there's a small tumor in the breast, that there are no lymph nodes affected," Dr. Elizabeth Comen says.
"90% of women who get breast cancer now live," Dr. Comen tells SurvivorNet. The National Cancer Institute says technological advancements have improved screening and early detection of breast cancer.
Clinical trials within the last two decades have helped doctors better determine when chemotherapy is necessary to treat breast cancer patients.
Improvements in genetic testing help doctors create more efficient treatment plans for women battling breast cancer.
After becoming a household name playing Elyse Keaton on the 1980s sitcom "Family Ties,” actress Meredith Baxter, 75, has bravely battled cancer and gone on to live a wonderful life with her loving wife Nancy. It’s been over 20 years since Baxter’s breast cancer journey, and there have been many incredible advancements in the treatment of the disease since then.
Baxter's television career began in the early 1970s. She's starred in a variety of roles that helped make her a household name for many people across the country. Aside from "Family Ties," Baxter was a fixture on "Bridget Loves Bernie," "Family," and "The Young and the Restless."
In Baxter's personal life, she is a mother of five children, and she found happiness with marriage to her wife Nancy Locke. She also overcame a battle with breast cancer following a 1999 diagnosis.
The actress says part of her breast cancer treatment caused her to get a breast reduction, which she was thankful for. Baxter called her breasts "the plague of [her] life" early in her career because they were often the focus of lewd comments.
More recently, Baxter was spotted by The Daily Mail holding hands with her wife while checking out a department store.
Earlier this year, Baxter participated in a fundraiser production at the New Mexico Actors Lab with "Family Ties" co-star Michael Gross. She also spends time advocating for women's health issues.
Meredith Baxter bravely beat breast cancer. (Getty Images)
Baxter's Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Years before Meredith Baxter had her own personal run-in with breast cancer, she portrayed a woman diagnosed with the disease. She starred in a 1994 movie "My Breast," in which her character wrestled with emotions associated with a breast cancer diagnosis.
She told Coping Magazine she realized she did not know much about breast cancer going into the film.
"I thought you could only get it if your mother had it, and otherwise, you were fine. And that you wouldn't get it until you were over 50 anyway," Baxter said.
Baxter would find herself confronting a real-life breast cancer diagnosis five years later when a mammogram revealed she had early-stage breast cancer in 1999 at the age of 52.
The actress admitted she tried to avoid surgery at the beginning of her cancer journey.
"It's hard to embrace doing surgery when your doctors are saying, 'It's the best kind of breast cancer you can possibly get!" Baxter said.
She opted for alternative treatment methods which proved unsuccessful.
"I spent a couple of months doing kinesiology and diet, which did nothing," Baxter added.
She ultimately had surgery after some encouragement from her children.
"They were bouncing off the walls, so upset that this was what I was trying," Baxter explained.
Baxter underwent two lumpectomies, which is a surgical procedure that removes just the cancer and an area of healthy tissue around it.
"Early-stage breast cancer means that there's a small tumor in the breast, that there are no lymph nodes affected," Dr. Elizabeth Comen, a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, previously explained to SurvivorNet.
"For stage 1 breast cancer, the first step is to remove the cancer. If a woman needs a lumpectomy, most often she will have radiation after that," Dr. Comen continued.
If a breast cancer patient has a family history of cancer or the tumor's size is a concern, your doctor may consider more aggressive treatment.
Improvements In Breast Cancer Treatment
Since the turn of the century and Meredith Baxter's breast cancer diagnosis, modern medicine has improved the outcomes for breast cancer patients.
"90% of women who get breast cancer now live," Dr. Comen tells SurvivorNet.
The National Cancer Institute says technological advancements have improved screening and early detection of breast cancer.
When your doctor is determining the treatment for your cancer, many considerations factor into the decision.
Women are evaluated for genetics, hormones, and molecular features. Genetic makeup, such as possessing the BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene mutation, is an influencing factor for people with breast cancer, or those with a higher risk of the disease.
The understanding of hereditary cancers has helped doctors improve treatment methods.
"About 5% to 10% of breast" cancers are hereditary, according to the CDC.
Breast cancer-specific genetic mutations are known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. These breast cancer types can increase a person’s risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers.
BRCA is two genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2); each protein works as a tumor suppressor. They help repair damaged DNA and are important for ensuring the stability of each cell's genetic material.
When either of these genes is altered, that mutation can mean that its protein product does not function properly, or that damaged DNA may not be repaired correctly. This alteration increases the cancer risk.
Targeted therapies, such as PARP inhibitors, can help repair the damaged DNA in some breast cancer patients , helping them live longer.
For the molecular makeup of breast cancer, there are different types. These include:
Luminal A breast cancer
Luminal B breast cancer
Luminal B-like breast cancer
HER2-enriched breast cancer
Triple-negative or basal-like breast cancer
Each type has a specific, individualized molecular structure. The different types of molecular structures of breast cancer may inform the treatment path.
The biology of your tumor is also important: is your tumor positive for the HER2 receptor or hormone receptors? Did you inherit an increased risk for breast cancer through family history? All these considerations influence your treatment.
The good news for breast cancer warriors is that there are many ways to treat and target breast cancer regardless of your cancer stage today.
WATCH: HER2-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment Options Explained.
Significant Advancement: HER2-Low
We don’t know what kind of breast cancer Baxter had. However, one significant advancement in the field has been the new classification of some advanced breast cancers called "HER2-low," which means that women previously classified as HER2-negative can qualify for certain treatments.
Breast cancer cells with higher-than-normal levels of HER2 are called HER2-positive, found in 15-20% of all breast tumors. HER2 breast cancer cells tend to grow faster, and they are more likely to respond to treatment with drugs that target the HER2 protein.
HER2-low cancers do not meet the threshold for HER2-positive tumors, but they still have a minimal amount of HER2 expression. HER2-low patients that may have previously been classified as HER2-negative may have the ability to take advantage of life-changing treatments like Enhertu, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in August 2022.
Enhertu's generic name is trastuzumab deruxtecan, and it treats HER2-low breast cancers that cannot be removed by surgery or that have spread to other parts of the body, after chemotherapy.
Enhertu is a HER2-directed antibody tethered to a chemotherapy drug. The antibody selectively binds to the HER2 proteins on the surface of breast cancer cells and infuses highly potent chemotherapy directly into those cancer cells.
This selectivity allows for the sparing of normal cells and the consequent side effects.
This mechanism is separate from the way more established drugs like Herceptin operate. Herceptin targets the same HER2 receptors, thereby preventing them from binding to substances that may promote cancer cell growth.
The distinct modus operandi of Enhertu is the reason that has succeeded in treating HER2-low patients while Herceptin failed to do so.
Trastuzumab deruxtecan "is the first HER2-targeted therapy shown to provide a clinically meaningful improvement in progression-free and overall survival compared with standard chemotherapy in people with HER2-low metastatic breast cancer," Dr. Shanu Modi said in a report by the National Cancer Institute.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor After a Breast Cancer Diagnosis
What is the stage of my breast cancer?
Will I need surgery to treat my breast cancer?
Will I have to undergo chemotherapy?
What are the common side effects of my recommended treatment method?
Where can I find additional support options to help me and my family cope with this diagnosis?
