April Witkowski Breast Cancer Questions

Could You Have a Liver Transplant?

Just as cancer is a tragic diagnosis, there is tragedy involved in the liver transplant process. One life is given for another. With the limited number of liver transplants available, the process is understandably strenuous to decide who receives them. Much like a current alcoholic would be passed over for the concern that he would damage a new liver in the same way he hurt his own, so a metastatic cancer patient would not qualify either. There is cancer in my blood. Doctors would have no reason to trust that a new liver would not ultimately be infected with cancer tumors just as much as my current one.

Pray with me that this vital organ of mine would continue to function properly (damaged though it may be) and my cancer tumors would shrink. God holds my life in His hands.

April Witkowski Breast Cancer Questions

Do You Have Different Types of Cancer?

Though cancer has invaded my breast, spine, lymph nodes, and liver, I only have one type of cancer, ER+PR+HER2- breast cancer. Strange as it may seem, you could say that I have breast cancer in my liver and bones. The letters note my specific type of cancer. Being a hormonal breast cancer, the cancer in my body feeds primarily off Estrogen and Progesterone (the ER and PR parts). When I undergo treatments that fight ER+PR+HER2-breast cancer, the medicine attacks the tumors in my breast as well as all those tumors in my bones, liver, and the rest of my body. Even within the subgroup of ER+PR+HER2- breast cancer patients, there exist variations as the cancer can mutate in a variety of ways. Thus even some treatment options which work for other ER+PR+HER2- breast cancer patients will not work for me.

April Witkowski Breast Cancer Questions

Did You Feel A Lump?

I first felt a lump in my left breast while breast feeding our youngest daughter during the last months of 2018.  The bump slowly began to force my nipple outward, an experience that I had never encountered while breastfeeding my older children. Fearing that I might have breast cancer, I shared my concerns with my OBGYN. He did a physical exam and attributed all my symptoms to a clogged milk duct which should go away with time.  Doubtful of his first diagnosis, I asked him about the lump a second time and received the same reply.  It never went away.

I also began to experience pain in my lower back and left leg in the early months of 2019. While this was not constant, it could prove excruciating.  I fell to the floor in pain on several occasions. Seeking to find a cure for my pain, I underwent an MRI of my lower back. The scan showed tumors in all my bones.  Though I had to undergo a full battery of tests to determine the source and nature of my cancer, I was not surprised to learn that it was indeed metastatic breast cancer. I was diagnosed in May 2019 a week after my youngest daughter’s first birthday.