Beloved St. Louis Radio Personality Jen Myers, 47, Taking a Break From the Airwaves As She Continues to Fight Stage 4 Breast Cancer

"As many of you know," she posted to Instagram on Thursday morning, "I was diagnosed almost 6 years ago with breast cancer. My breast cancer metastasized to my lungs in 2018, advancing to Stage 4."

"I recently started a new chemo regimen that is not pretty," she continued. "I hope this treatment will help, but it is also not a cure for this disease. We are betting a lot right now on hope."

Jen, 47, has been with Y98 since she was "just a baby," she said.

Now, 20 years later, "I marvel that I have been able to work at one radio station for so long. My job going forward needs to be my health, and spending as much time with these 3 people as I can," she said.

In the photo, the three people standing with Jen are her husband, Ryan Farmer, and their two children, Finn, 12, and Nora, 9.

"I hope we can all raise a toast in the future to this cancer being in remission … until then, this very public cancer story is going to be very much private. ❤️"

Understanding Metastatic Disease

Like every other type of cancer, breast cancer has stages 1, 2, 3 and 4. But what does it mean when you or a loved one has metastatic cancer? Well, metastatic is just another word for stage 4, meaning the cancer is in its later stage.

Stage 4 Breast Cancer

Stage 4, or metastatic, cancer is the hardest type of cancer to treat. Metastatic means the cancer has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body.

When breast cancer spreads, it most commonly goes to the bones, liver and lungs. It may also spread to the brain or other organs. In Jen’s case, her cancer has spread to her lungs.

Treating Late-Stage Breast Cancer

Though it can be scary to find out that you have late-stage breast cancer, new treatments have improved the outlook for metastatic cancer patients, according to SurvivorNet experts. These new treatment options are improving the lifespan for women with metastatic disease.

For women with HER2-positive breast cancer, meaning they have high levels of a protein called HER2 on the surface of their cancer cells, targeted treatments are available. The drugs trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta) have transformed the outlook for some women with late-stage breast cancer. These therapies, which are often combined with chemotherapy, are very effective at controlling breast cancer once it’s spread beyond the breast.

Another major advancement has come in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. This has historically been one of the most aggressive and hardest-to-treat forms of the disease because it lacks the three main drivers of breast cancer the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor and the HER2 receptor and it doesn't respond to treatments that target these receptors.

Related: Breast Cancer Breakthrough: Immunotherapy Shows Major Boost in Survival Rates

Now, in addition to chemotherapy, immunotherapy has been approved to treat triple-negative breast cancer. In studies, this new therapy has been shown to extend the lives of women with this type of cancer.

For post-menopausal women with hormone receptor-positive and HER2-negative breast cancers, a newer class of drugs called CDK4/6 inhibitors are available. These drugs have been shown to improve survival in some women with metastatic cancer.

Jen noted in her Instagram post that she’s about to begin a new chemotherapy regimen, however, it should be noted that the type of breast cancer she’s fighting hasn’t been made public. Therefore, her new treatment regimen also remains unclear.

Even though a breast cancer diagnosis is never easy, some women describe it as a wake-up call that actually helped them improve their lives, by allowing them to focus on what matters most and practice better self-care. Taking good care of yourself by exercising, eating right and limiting alcohol intake will help to ensure that you stay healthy and cancer-free once your treatment ends.

For Jen, it meant taking a step back from her job as she continues to fight cancer.

We believe in you, Jen! You got this!

Contributing: SurvivorNet staff reports

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