When Ovarian Cancer Comes Back
- NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr. placed 25th overall in this year's Daytona 500, but he is driving for something bigger: ovarian cancer.
- Sherry Pollex, now 43, longtime partner of Truex Jr., was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014 at age 35. In 2016 the cancer returned. While she beat it both times, the couple was told in late 2020 that Pollex's cancer had returned once again.
- The majority of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer will go into remission. However, about 80% of those women (like Pollex) will have a recurrence within the next five years.
Sherry Pollex, now 43, longtime partner of Truex Jr., was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014. In 2016 the cancer returned. While she beat it both times, the couple was told in late 2020 that Pollex's cancer had returned once again. Pollex reports that she currently has tumors in her right lung.
Read MoreIt’s a fight they share to help others. @MartinTruex_Jr and @SherryPollex sit down with Tom Rinaldi. pic.twitter.com/rhWEFeobL9
FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 20, 2022
Pollex tells Fox Sports reporter Tom Renaldi that when she first received her diagnosis, she thought, "God, why me? I've done everything right in my life."
"They don't deserve this," Truex Jr. added, talking about Pollex and their children. (The couple do not have any children together.)
Thank you Tom Renaldi. For telling my story so gracefully. â™¥ï¸ you are one of a kind. I'll forever call you my friend. #Daytona500 #ovariancancerawareness pic.twitter.com/bX6QnvqDXI
Sherry Pollex (@SherryPollex) February 21, 2022
"As soon as we left there (the doctor), she's like, 'I'm not giving up,'” he continued. "And she started fighting." And she has not stopped fighting since.
"I will fight till the end, until I'm on my deathbed," Pollex said.
Sherry Pollex's Cancer Battle
In 2014, at age 35, Pollex was diagnosed with stage 3C ovarian cancer, meaning the cancer had spread from her ovaries to her abdomen. Her doctors told her that her chances of survival were just 30% over the next five years.
Pollex had a radical hysterectomy a seven-hour debulking surgery as well as 17 months of chemotherapy. Throughout her treatment process, Pollex lost her appetite, her weight and her hair.
She tells Fox Sports that she had gotten extremely skinny during treatment; the person looking back at her when she looked in the mirror "wasn't me." "That was the lowest point, for sure," she added.
Chemotherapy Side Effects Hair Loss
She beat the cancer, but in 2016 at 37 years old, it came back. This is when she created SherryStrong to encourage women to take a proactive approach to ovarian cancer, to know their bodies and to explore wellness practices that could complement conventional treatment.
On her site, Pollex refers to "the gift of cancer" as "the ultimate wake-up call." It taught her to live in the present, appreciate moments of beauty and to work every day to deepen relationships and create memories with loved ones. Through SherryStrong, she shares this wisdom and creates a sense of connection with people around the world who are fighting the same battle.
"To see how she's handled this battle of hers, and held up others along the way (through SherryStrong), and done all these things, (these) are the reason she's here with us today," Truex Jr. told Fox Sports.
She is determined to beat this disease, and she did it a second time. However, in 2020, the couple was told once again that Pollex's cancer had come back.
"I do have some tumors in my right lung," she told Fox Sports. "I'm praying for a clean scan in the next couple months."
Through it all, Pollex had one request of Truex Jr. keep racing.
"It made me happy to see him compete on Sundays even though I couldn't be there," she said. "I was still watching from home. It was good for me, it was good for my soul."
But this year's Daytona 500 was different. "I'm gonna be there on Sunday right next to him on that starting line on the grid," she said. "I'm gonna be there."
Pollex added that she wanted to see Truex Jr. win his first Daytona 500, and while that did not happen, it still meant everything to have her there. The courage to fight and the will to win that Truex Jr. has embodied, "I don't have to look far for that example," she said, talking about his partner.
When Ovarian Cancer Comes Back
The majority of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer will go into remission.
However, about 80% of those women (like Pollex) will have a recurrence within the next five years, according to Dr. Beth Karlan, a gynecologic oncologist at UCLA Health.
Recurrence often occurs because some cancer cells are left behind after treatment, and, over time, they grow larger. The cancer may have specific features which means these cells just did not respond well to treatment.
Dealing With Recurrence in Ovarian Cancer
"We treat patients whose ovarian cancer has come back three, four, five, six, seven and eight times," Dr. Karlan told SurvivorNet during a previous interview. "And often, despite it being their fifth or sixth recurrence, (the treatments) seem to … get them back into remission."
How does that happen? Dr. Karlan explained that it is a "careful analysis of what they've been through before, how long since some of their last treatments and also an analysis of their tumors."
While the probability of recurrence is, without question, daunting, there are exciting new treatment options available to women with recurrent ovarian cancer. One treatment option gaining a lot of attention is PARP inhibitor drugs.
There is growing data to support the idea that PARP inhibitors, the class of drug which inhibits cancer cells from repairing their DNA, can benefit a wide swath of women. PARP inhibitors are especially beneficial for women who have genetic testing to discover that they have a mutation called BRCA. (The BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations increase a woman's chances of developing breast and ovarian cancer.)
For women with recurrent ovarian cancer and responded to platinum-based chemotherapy, Lynparza, Zejula and another PARP inhibitor called Rubraca (rucaparib) are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use as a maintenance therapy (ongoing treatment to keep the cancer from coming back), regardless of whether a woman has a BRCA mutation or HRD (homologous recombination deficiency).
For some women who have had prior chemotherapy treatments, Rubraca, Zejula or Lynparza may also be options. These uses are based on factors such as the number of prior therapies and BRCA mutation or HRD.
The different PARP inhibitors do have some varying side effects, which women and their doctors need to evaluate carefully. It is important to ask your doctor if they have experience managing the side effects of various PARPs. Some of these considerations are explained here.
Contributing: Joe Kerwin & SurvivorNet staff reports
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