Page 9 - Valley Life & Health

rima Duperval was enjoying a girls’ night
out in August 2018, but behind her To
P laughter she was worried about a walnut-
size lump she’d recently discovered in her right
breast. “I was a little in denial,” she says.
When she finally confided in her friends,
they assured her it probably wasn’t serious.
After all, she was just 31 with lots of energy
and an exciting new job as a tech partner at
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest. Still, they
urged her to be smart and get it checked out.

Diagnosis shock
Duperval, who lives in Pocono Summit,
Pa., made an appointment at nearby LVPG
Obstetrics and Gynecology–Bartonsville.
Results from an ultrasound and mammogram
were inconclusive. Over the next week as she
waited for her biopsy results, the lump began
growing at an alarming rate. individualize her treatment, Nair enrolled intravenous treatments that drained her physically
On Aug. 13, Duperval and her mother arrived Duperval in a leading-edge clinical trial to uncover but effectively shrank the tumor.
for the biopsy results appointment. The news was genetic mutations driving the cancer – one of On Oct. 17, 2018, Duperval underwent
bad – the lump was a sarcoma, a rare form of many innovations available to patients through the an elective double mastectomy with surgical
aggressive cancer that can develop in soft tissues Cancer Institute’s membership in the Memorial oncologist Heiwon Chung, MD, with LVPG
anywhere in the body. Duperval’s just happened Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Alliance. Surgical Oncology, followed by another
to form in her breast. “The advantage of being an Alliance member chemotherapy round. Afterward, she began
They immediately headed to Dale and is that no matter how aggressive the cancer, we radiation therapy with radiation oncologist
Frances Hughes Cancer Center at Lehigh can bring groundbreaking precision medicine Charles Andrews, MD, at Hughes Cancer
Valley Hospital–Pocono, where oncologist right to where patients live,” Nair says. Center. “We administered 30 radiation
Suresh Nair, MD, with Lehigh Valley Cancer Genetic testing results showed that treatments to maximize local control and help
Institute, had already been alerted. Breast Duperval’s tumor cells had a BRCA1 (BReast improve survival,” he says.
cancer navigator Caroline McConnell, RN, and CAncer) gene mutation, but the rest of her Today, Duperval is cancer-free and recently
nurse practitioner Lutchana Beckford, CRNP, body’s cells were mutation-free, meaning she enrolled in a nursing program. “If not for my
were on hand to welcome them and answer had no genetic risk factors for cancer. medical team’s support I don’t think I’d be
questions from the moment they arrived. Encouraged by the results, her medical team here,” she says. “I really want to give back now,
“That day was overwhelming,” Duperval says, agreed to treat the tumor as a sarcoma (not a and this experience has pushed me to become
“but everyone was so supportive.” traditional breast tumor) using highly targeted an oncology nurse.”
chemotherapy drugs to inflict maximum DNA Access to clinical trials
Plan of attack damage to the mutated tumor cells. Afterward, In 2016, Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute joined
A positron emission tomography (PET) scan Duperval would undergo surgery and radiation. the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer
revealed that Duperval’s tumor had spread to Alliance, created to bring world-class cancer care
nearby lymph nodes but not to her organs. Top-tier treatment to local communities. Benefits include:
“At stage 3, we knew we had a shot at a cure,” Between August and October of 2018, • Cancer Institute specialists consult with MSK
Nair says. “But the tumor had already grown from Duperval received two rounds of “continuous experts, keeping abreast of the latest treatment
1 to 6 centimeters in under a month, so we had infusion” chemotherapy, both requiring a innovations and quickly adopting MSK standards
to move fast and treat it aggressively.” three-day hospital stay with round-the-clock of care.
• Patients gain access to early clinical trials,
genetic tests and other care advances.
• Patients receive front-line cancer care close
to home.
Search clinical research trials at
LVHN.org/clinicaltrials.

Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute Locations
n John and Dorothy Morgan Cancer Center
at Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest
n LVHN Cancer Center at Lehigh Valley
Hospital – Muhlenberg
n LVHN Cancer Center – Hazleton
n LVHN Cancer Center – Schuylkill
Photos courtesy of LVHN at Lehigh Valley Hospital – Pocono
n Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center

n LVPG Hematology Oncology – Bangor
n LVPG Hematology Oncology – Lehighton