Catching Cancer Early By Chance
- Music producer Linda Perry, who has written songs for mega-artists such as Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion, revealed her triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis in her new film Let It Die Here, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Friday. The term “triple negative” is used for breast cancers that do not have receptors for estrogen or progesterone or for a protein called HER2.
- The 4 Non Blondes singer, 59, decided to forego radiation and have a double mastectomy and is now cancer-free. One of the most empowering moments and visuals of the film is when Perry reveals her flat chest, with footage showing her standing shirtless outside in the wind, wearing nothing but trousers and thin suspenders.
- More and more women are choosing to go flat. That is, after their mastectomy, they don’t have any breast reconstruction at all. For those who don’t go back for reconstruction, people call this “going flat” or “living flat.”
- Further details about Perry’s diagnosis and treatment are unclear, but the fact that her doctors caught her cancer during a breast reduction is a reminder of how important it is to screen for breast cancer with annual mammograms. Together, you and your care team can decide on a treatment plan that is right for you.
Mainly focused on her painful upbringing and complex relationship with her mother Marluce Perry, whom she recently lost, the 4 Non Blondes singer, 59, also revealed that she went through triple-negative breast cancer that was found when she went in for a breast reduction.
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An openly proud lesbian and queer rights advocate — who was married to Roseanne star Sara Gilbert, 49, the mother of their child, Rhodes, 11 — said she had never really wanted a “man chest,” but she was uncomfortable with her large breasts and the removal just made sense when she was diagnosed with cancer.
So Perry chose to have the surgery instead of undergoing radiation.
The emotionally and physically freeing capture is interwoven with a black-and-white photo of Perry holding her mother, as she talks about making peace with her while she was in hospice. “I chose love,” Perry told the camera, choosing to end the painful cycle and finally free herself from her childhood pain, which she has poured into all of her music.
Going Flat: The Decision Is Yours
Every woman’s breast cancer battle is unique to them. And the good news is that it’s your decision what to do whatever you think is best for your body with the guidance of your medical team, of course.
RELATED: For Breast Reconstruction After Mastectomy, Women May Choose ‘Now,’ ‘Later,’ or ‘Never’
There are many reasons some women choose to “go flat” after surgery by forgoing breast reconstruction. One of which is simply to be done with surgeries. Some, on the other hand, may want to simply stick it to conventional beauty standards. No matter what the reason, there’s many people on both sides of the equation.
Dr. Ann Partridge explains when women should consider mastectomy
“It’s a shared decision-making process between the patient and the physician. The patient needs to advocate for herself and make her goals clear. The physician needs to give clear, logical, evidence-based explanations for their recommendations,” Dr. Terry Myckatyn previously told SurvivorNet.
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Dr. Myckatyn is a plastic surgeon who specializes in breast reconstruction at Washington University St. Louis.
More and more women are choosing to go flat. That is, after their mastectomy, they don’t have any breast reconstruction at all. For those who don’t go back for reconstruction, people call this “going flat” or “living flat.”
What Is Triple-Negative Breast Cancer?
The term “triple negative” is used for breast cancers that do not have receptors for estrogen or progesterone or for a protein called HER2 and could come up in your diagnosis. What this means is that hormonal therapy can’t be used because the cancer cells lack these receptors, and it also means that therapies targeted at HER2 will not be an effective treatment option.
In 2021, the FDA approved the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the treatment of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is already used to treat other cancers, including melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer.
Doctors heralded the FDA’s approval of pembrolizumab as a potentially paradigm-shifting advancement in breast cancer treatment.
Triple-Negative and Newer Immunotherapy Treatment Has Been Showing Promise
For patients with stage 2 or 3 TNBC, adding the immune-boosting medication pembrolizumab to combination chemotherapy before surgery, increases chances of living free of breast cancer, explains oncologist Dr. Sylvia Adams, director of the Breast Cancer Center at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.
Dr. Adams was one of several researchers involved with the pembrolizumab trials. “It changes the standard of care and should be discussed with all patients who are diagnosed with stage 2-3 TNBC,” she adds. “Yes, it’s a game-changer, though there is much more to be learned.”
Treating Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
In the phase III trial that preceded the FDA’s approval, a regimen of pembrolizumab with neoadjuvant (before surgery) platinum-based chemotherapy and then pembrolizumab alone extended event-free survival in patients with early-stage TNBC. The trial included 1,174, with 784 receiving 200 mg of pembrolizumab every three weeks in addition to neoadjuvant chemotherapyfour cycles of paclitaxel and carboplatin and then four cycles of doxorubicin or epirubicin plus cyclophosphamide. The other 390 study participants received chemotherapy plus placebo.
At the median follow-up of 39 months, pembrolizumab showed a significant event-free survival benefit compared with chemotherapy alone.
Further details about Perry’s diagnosis and treatment are unclear, but the fact that her doctors caught her cancer during a breast reduction is a reminder of how important it is to screen for breast cancer with annual mammograms.
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