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Pam Kohl lives her life from 12 to 12 weeks. Every 12 weeks, a cold, radioactive liquid is pushed into his veins to give an image of the cancer in his body.
Kohl, executive director of Susan G. Komen, a member of the Triangle Division on the coast of North Carolina, lives with metastatic breast cancer. Regular bone exams, PET scans, CT scans, and blood tests are important indicators of whether your cancer is stable or if your treatments have stopped working.
"It's a bit odd to wait for your analysis," she says, "but you just want it done. It will tell us if the treatment that I am continues to work. "
Waiting for these results can be distressing.
"For me, this one was more difficult because I'm two years old," Kohl said.
It's been so long since she did not learn that her breast cancer had returned and spread. It also depends on how long the existing treatments slow down the progress of his cancer.
"If you've been stable for two years, that's a good sign," Kohl said. "My drug, my treatment usually lasts 24 to 28 months, so you know, it's scary."
During these two years, Dr. Jeremy Force was Kohl's oncologist.
"Whatever the case may be, these therapies are starting to fail," he said. "Cancer can become smart and can change in one's body.We always try to learn how that happens."
Kohl has undergone radiation to stabilize the growth of tumors in the chest and hip. She is also taking oral chemotherapy. It is this treatment that she fears that she will soon no longer be effective.
"It is not devastating to have to leave your first treatment because there is now a second treatment, a second line and, hopefully, a third line," she said. "The more you can stay on a treatment, the better."
Thanks to his work at Komen, Kohl knows that more treatments are being prepared. Working with these new therapies has been one of the strengths of Force at Duke.
"I think it's important that most patients with breast cancer or cancer in general try to seek an opinion in a university or at least in a place where they have access to these." clinical trials, "he said.
Force is also inspired by Kohl's unique journey, while she is grateful to women participating in clinical trials opening the door for patients like her.
"Every day in Komen, you hear positive stories and scary stories," she said.
Kohl leads all planning work for the 23rd annual Triangle Race for the Cure. She will be there Saturday morning, dressed in her special shirt, among the group of people whose cancer is not cured, the fighters of always.
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