TESTIMONY
Dorothée is 45 years old and was diagnosed with metastatic triple negative breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer. After twelve sessions of chemotherapy, Dorothée, who was a marathon runner, no longer recognizes herself. She tells the microphone of "La Libre antenne", on Europe 1, that she fights, with the association she created, so that immunotherapy is more recognized in France for breast cancer, and explains that breast cancer screening should be done before age 50.
>> Listen to Dorothée's testimony in full here
"I am 45 years old. In June 2019, I was diagnosed with metastatic triple negative breast cancer. This means that the cancer has already migrated to other organs. It is dazzling. clean of the triple negative, it's a very aggressive cancer. What many people ignore is that there is not one, but breast cancers. There are hormone-dependent cancers, and the triple negative which does not respond to any hormone treatment and which has the particularity of attacking women who are rather young and very aggressive.
" We recommend having a mammogram at 50, but it's late "The diagnosis came at a time when I did not expect it, because I am a marathon runner. I want to say 'I was', because I can't run anymore, the metastases are located in my rib cage. This is what saved my life. I was preparing for the Barcelona marathon and I could no longer complete my training. I went to consult and we discovered this cancer at an advanced stage.
In France, we advise you to have a mammogram from the age of 50, not before. A lot of women get this cancer before the age of 50. Before that age you only undergo clinical examinations. I was followed by a gynecologist. The tumor in my left breast was only 14mm in size when it was detected. It is very small, yet this cancer is very aggressive and had already migrated. Detecting a 14 mm tumor only on clinical examination, that is to say on touch, is almost impossible. We recommend having a mammogram at 50, but it's late.
" I understood the seriousness of my condition "I was extremely tired. I usually ran 30 kilometers without a problem, and overnight I could hardly run four kilometers. When you prepare a marathon, you follow a well-defined training plan, and I absolutely couldn't bring it to fruition. A ganglion appeared in my left collarbone. I learned later that a ganglion located at the collarbone, especially on the left side, is a sign that something serious is going on in your body, that your immune system is already saturated. For me, it was normal to have a lymph node when you are tired.
When I was diagnosed, I was told: 'You have breast cancer, but don't worry, today it can be treated well'. I was told that I was going to have an operation and that I was going to have three or four months of treatment. When I was taken care of in the cancer center, the surgeon told me that he did not understand why I was sent, because I was not operable. I understood that this was not good news. He then told me that I had a triple negative. The world has collapsed around me, because I have understood the gravity of my condition.
" I hope to have this treatment recognized "Statistics say that in the metastatic stage, the triple negative cannot be treated, at least in France. There is a clinic in Germany that has found the answer for this advanced cancer. The parade is in chemotherapy coupled with immunotherapy and vaccinotherapy. For the moment I have made the choice to continue to seek treatment in France, because I hope to have this treatment recognized.
Immunotherapy is recognized in France for lung, kidney and melanoma cancers. But not for the triple negative. It is hard to explain it. Chemotherapy attacks forehead tumors, while immunotherapy develops your defense system to attack cancer cells.
>> Find Olivier Delacroix's Free Antenna in replay and podcast here
I created an association in September to have this treatment recognized. When we ask the question of oncologists or politicians, whom I also questioned, we are told that clinical trials are not conclusive. This is wrong, because this clinic in Germany has found the dosages and especially adapts them according to the patients. She does it on a case-by-case basis. In France, we absolutely want to find a product with a dosage that will work for everyone, while we all respond in different ways to immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is said to not work because patients are given the same doses in clinical trials.
Chemotherapy works on us for a while. There are several chemotherapy products, we all start with the same one and the cancer takes over. We are changed the product and so on. The oncologist ends up telling us that he has no more chemotherapy to offer us and that we will move on to palliative care. You don't have to be a doctor to know what happens once you are in palliative care. We die.
" Each year in France 12,000 women die from breast cancer "Politicians have to react, oncologists have to fight more for us, because that is where our lifeline is. I know a woman who has had over a hundred chemotherapy courses in three years. I had twelve chemotherapy cures, I was a marathon runner, I don't recognize myself. I feel like I am moving like a 70 year old.
Even at a lesser stage, when the triple negative has been treated, there is 40% recurrence. It's enormous. It's urgent. Although it is a rare cancer, 10 to 15,000 women in France are affected. Today, at the time of Pink October, we keep saying that breast cancer is treated well. Each year in France 12,000 women die from breast cancer. I would like us to stop spreading a lot of positive images around breast cancer. I'm not saying you have to panic, but you have to be a little closer to reality and stop making things better. "