Living With Stage 4 Cancer
- Teshya Russo, 45, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer after finding a lump in her breast she initially thought was a cyst.
- With the ongoing support of her loving husband, family, and friends, Russo remains optimistic and hopeful that one day she’ll be cancer free.
- Stage 4 breast cancer, while not curable, can be managed and treated as more of a chronic disease. More and more patients are thriving with cancer and living long lives with their families, and still get to experience joy with each and every milestone. Never give up hope.
However, because she didn’t have any symptoms that could relate to breast cancer, she wasn’t in a rush to get checked by a doctor.
Read More
With ongoing support from her family, friends, and loving husband Michael Russo, she remains optimistic and ready to fight cancer.
“I do want to try whatever is going to be the best treatment even if it's going to be hard,” Russo said, noting she lives with “a lot of hope.”
Russo, who has already received more than 100 treatments, continues her cancer treatment at Mercy Medical Center every three weeks.
"The Chemo worked,” she said. “The new treatments that they're coming out with all the time. I know they're going to come up with something that is going to be the one that stops my treatments and I’ll be able to move on.”
Russo strives to carry on with her life plans despite undergoing treatment and recently renewed her wedding vows at the oncology center where she was receiving treatment.
RELATED: Check Your Breasts Today, and Once Every Month; Survivor Giuliana Rancic Stresses Its Importance
“We decided to renew our vows right there in the treatment room and just have all the other patients celebrate with us and I got all the nurses little bouquets,” Russo, who still teaches dance and theater, said.
Breast Cancer in Women Younger than 45
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC also reports that breast cancer mostly occurs among older women, but it's possible for women under the age of 45 like Russo to be diagnosed with this type of cancer. In fact, about 9% of all new breast cancer cases in the U.S. are found in women younger than 45.
But in some ways, a diagnosis for a younger woman can often be even more devastating, Dr. Ann Partridge, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told SurvivorNet in a previous interview.
This is because the cancer is likely to be a more aggressive form of the disease and also at an advanced stage, as screening for younger women is not standard.
It's important to know it is possible for young women to get breast cancer, so listening to your body when something doesn't feel right is vitally important.
The Importance Of Mammograms
Breast cancer is typically detected via a mammogram. During the mammogram screening, the doctor is looking for lumps in the breast tissue or early signs of breast cancer. Most women should begin screening for breast cancer at 45.
Dr. Connie Lehman, the chief of Breast Imaging Division at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a previous interview, "If you haven't gone through menopause yet, I think it's very important that you have a mammogram every year. We know that cancers grow more rapidly in our younger patients, and having that annual mammogram can be lifesaving."
"After menopause, it may be perfectly acceptable to reduce that frequency to every two years," says Dr. Lehman. "But what I'm most concerned about is the women who haven't been in for a mammogram for two, three, or four years, those women that have never had a mammogram. We all agree regular screening mammography saves lives. I want to be completely clear. If you are between 50 and 74 and you have not had a mammogram in the last two years, you are overdue. Please get a mammogram."
The Power of Persistence & Positivity
We love how Russo continues to go about life with a positive attitude and stays focused on persistence in the face of challenges. Colorectal surgeon Dr. Zuri Murrell says that having a positive and upbeat attitude like this may help with cancer outcomes.
Dr. Murrell says in a previous interview, "My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they're diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK."
"Now doesn't that mean I'm good at saying that the cancer won't grow," he says. "But I'm pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life."
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
