Six years after undergoing a double mastectomy and multiple punishing rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, Narda Hunt was told that her breast cancer had spread to her liver.
鈥淵ou could literally see the tumour,鈥� she told 麻豆影视. 鈥淢y stomach was so extended, I looked like I was almost nine months pregnant.鈥�
While the five-year survival rate for breast cancer can be as high as , once it becomes and travels to other parts of the body, such as the liver or brain, it is largely untreatable.
鈥淚 was not able to eat,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淚 was not able to drink water at all and (I) got to the point where I was living on (an) IV, sitting on the couch all day because I couldn鈥檛 really walk very much.鈥�
More chemotherapy yielded no results, and with a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer, Hunt was told to prepare for the worst.
鈥淪eptember last year was when my oncologist told me that I only had weeks left to live and she had set me up with palliative care,鈥� Hunt recalled.
鈥淏ut deep down, I still had it in me that I was not ready, it was not my time鈥� and that I would do whatever it takes to stay alive for my kids.鈥�
In desperation, she began investigating regional chemotherapy: a treatment in which anti-cancer drugs are pumped through an artery to directly target a tumour, rather than the body as a whole. Regional chemotherapy is only used for certain cancers in Canada -- such as pancreatic cancer, some abdominal cancers and certain melanomas -- but it is not an approved treatment for metastatic breast cancer in the country.
But Hunt was determined, and with the help of friends and family, she was able to foot a staggering $200,000 bill to for several rounds of regional chemotherapy in Sept. 2017.
Results, she said, were almost immediate and her tumour has since shrunk considerably.
鈥淭here is very minimal cancer left on the liver,鈥� Hunt claimed nearly a year later. She鈥檚 now even gotten back to doing things like mountain biking.
鈥淗onestly, I feel great,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y life right now is pretty much, I would say, 95 per cent normal.鈥�
Doctor: 鈥榃e don鈥檛 support its use鈥�
Despite the apparent success of Hunt鈥檚 treatment, Canadian doctors say there is just not enough evidence to prove that regional chemotherapy works for those with metastatic breast cancer.
鈥淩egional chemotherapy for breast cancer is unproven and we don鈥檛 support its use in Ontario,鈥� , a medical oncologist at Toronto鈥檚 Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, told 麻豆影视.
鈥淲e like to have really solid evidence from clinical trials and we simply don鈥檛 have that for regional chemotherapy for breast cancer to date.鈥�
Eisen, who also co-chairs 鈥檚 Breast Cancer Disease Site Group, which advises the province on breast cancer care practices, says patients like Hunt should explore the 鈥渕any excellent鈥� provincially-covered treatment options before venturing overseas for something that might offer no results.
鈥淚 think we have to be careful about drawing conclusions from really anecdotal stories about one person who was told they might live a few weeks and then lived longer with a particular treatment,鈥� Eisen explained.
鈥淚鈥檇 like patients to know that before they embark on experimental treatment that might cost them a lot of money out of pocket, they should really carefully explore all the treatment options available to them closer to home.鈥�
Hunt said she exhausted all Canadian options before travelling to Germany.
鈥淚 got nine more months with my children. I got nine more months with my husband. I got nine more months with life,鈥� she said.
The treatment, she notes, has also reportedly been successfully used in Germany for more than three decades.
Dr. Karl R. Aigner, the medical director of Medias Klinikum, the clinic in the picturesque Bavarian town of Burghausen where Hunt was treated, said regional chemotherapy is not about curing patients like Hunt, but about enhancing their quality of life.
鈥淚f we can prolong a life at a good quality then we reached what we wanted, what we are aiming at,鈥� Aigner said.
鈥業 was supposed to be dead last year鈥�
Sophia Mavrokefalos of London, Ont. sees herself as another regional chemotherapy success story.
First diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in 2013, she underwent a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. But after a year of stability, her cancer entered her pelvic bones and spine.
Despite further treatment, her cancer continued to spread, eventually engulfing her liver.
鈥淭hey had told me (at) the end of July (2017) that I had about two weeks left,鈥� Mavrokefalos recalled in an interview with 麻豆影视.
鈥淢y liver couldn鈥檛 tolerate any other treatment, that鈥檚 what I was told鈥� They really couldn鈥檛 do anything for me at all except transfer me to hospice.鈥�
Days after that painful prognosis, Mavrokefalos travelled to Germany where she underwent multiple rounds of regional chemotherapy.
鈥淢y blood work got better and better, my scans got better and that鈥檚 what happened,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 feeling better than I have felt in probably a year-and-a-half.鈥�
Like Hunt, Mavrokefalos has no illusions about being cured; although her tumours have shrunk significantly, they are still present. But she says that the astronomical cost -- roughly $240,000 in her case -- was worth it, if even just to have a little more time with her husband and young children.
鈥淚f we financially didn鈥檛 have this option, I wouldn鈥檛 be here,鈥� she said, choking back tears. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think I would be around to see another Christmas.鈥�
Despite reservations from specialists like Dr. Eisen and a dearth of Canadian research, both Hunt and Mavrokefalos believe that their experiences should propel Canadian studies into treating metastatic breast cancer with regional chemotherapy.
More than 5,000 people die from advanced breast cancer every year in Canada, and women like Hunt and Mavrokefalos really have few other options. Besides, they both note, many other women do not have the financial resources that they do and the treatment is already available in Canada for other types of cancers.
鈥淚鈥檓 here, I鈥檓 alive, I was supposed to be dead last year,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淐an they not at least do a study on it or do a trial?鈥�
鈥淚t needs to be an option,鈥� Mavrokefalos added. 鈥淐learly there are individuals who would benefit from this. It鈥檚 given me extra life.鈥�
With files from CTV鈥檚 medical affairs specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip
