Michelle James is a woman who thrives on tough challenges, so it was no surprise to learn she turned her stage three breast cancer diagnosis into a mission to help save lives.
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The 58-year-old from Lovedale raised her hand to take part in a ground breaking, Australian trial using immunotherapy to help shrink tumours.
The Chariot Trial is a clinical trial which aims to enrol 33 patients, men and women, diagnosed with triple negative early stage breast cancer. Currently, half the required number of patients have enrolled.
The trial investigates if using immunotherapy drugs together with standard chemotherapy, is safe and effective in treating breast cancer before surgery, and if continuing immunotherapy after surgery keeps the immune system active against the cancer.
Michelle is participating in the trial at Lake Macquarie Private Hospital at Gateshead under Medical Oncologist Dr Nicholas Zdenkowski.
Her story began in March when she felt pressure and experienced a sore breast over a two-day period. She had a mammogram in February last year which was clear.
"I rolled over in bed and felt a sharp pain and did a breast exam and found a large lump," Michelle said.
Further specialist medical examination found Michelle had a six centimetre tumour in her breast - a triple negative cancer which is often chemotherapy resistant.
She was also told that her cancer was stage three which meant it had also spread to her lymph nodes and a mastectomy was likely.
Dr Zdenkowski said Michelle was the ideal candidate for the Chariot Trial. The trial looks into the effect of immunotherapy in early stage breast cancer by using it before surgery in patients whose tumours are resistant to standard chemotherapy.
"Immunotherapy drugs stop the cancer cells from being able to hide from the immune system, so they can be attacked by immune cells," Dr Zdenkowski said.
"We hope that in this situation, it means that the cancer cells are more likely to be killed off.
"In this case by giving these drugs we hope to shrink the cancer in the breast and eradicate any cancer cells that have travelled to other parts of the body.
"The beauty of giving these medications before the breast operation is that we can see what effect they have on the cancer and are able to work out if the drugs are worth researching further."
Dr Zdenkowski hopes the drugs will be able to be used to cure more women of cancer. Michelle's tumour did not shrink after eight weeks of intense chemotherapy but since starting immunotherapy drugs it has shrunk by five centimetres and she may only need a lumpectomy.
Dr Zdenkowski said initial trial results are expected to be reported in 2021. "This is fast in terms of cancer trials," he said. "Some of these trials do not report for several years.
"We have reason to believe that the trial treatment will be effective, meaning that many of the patients who participate will have eradication of their cancers within the breast and lymph nodes by the time they undergo surgery.
Asked what the best case scenario is from the trial Dr Zdenkowski said: "That most of the patients who participate have no tumour visible at the time of their surgery, and that this translates into more patients being cured of their cancer."
Michelle is now one of the ambassadors of the national Breast Cancer Trials and you'll soon see her face on buses across the country. She will also feature in an upcoming edition of Woman's Day.
Breast cancer is not just one disease, but several. It includes different subtypes and treatments are becoming increasingly personalised for patients.
In 2019 breast cancer is estimated to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia.
