Ten Years Later, This Breast Cancer Survivor is Embracing Life—and Her New Grandson

Ten years ago, Eileen López Tomé remembers wondering whether she would live long enough to watch her youngest son grow up.

Today, he is a teenager. Her older children have graduated from college and pursued their careers. Her eldest son has married. And this spring, Ms. Tomé became a grandmother for the first time.

Those are milestones she once feared she might never see.

“There is just so much gratitude,” says Ms. Tomé, 56, a mother of five, longtime federal government public servant and cancer survivorship coach. “I don’t take a minute for granted.”

Watch now: Ten years ago, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Eileen López Tomé wondered if she would live long enough to watch her youngest son grow up. Today, he’s a teenager, her eldest son is married and she’s now a first-time grandmother. Ms. Tomé recently returned to Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute to mark another milestone. It’s been 10 years since her diagnosis launched a journey that included chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and a decade of hormone-blocking therapy. Video by Raphael Alvarez, Plum Productions.

This year, Ms. Tomé returned to Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute to mark another milestone: 10 years since her breast cancer diagnosis and the beginning of a journey that included chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and a decade of hormone-blocking therapy.

For Siddhartha Venkatappa, M.D., a breast medical oncologist at the Institute who recently assumed her follow-up care from longtime oncologist Grace Wang, M.D., while Dr. Wang was on medical leave, seeing a patient thriving a decade after diagnosis is about more than celebrating a number.

“When I see someone like Eileen, who had cancer 10 years ago and is doing so well 10 years later, who is fully functional and productive and is going above and beyond by helping other women with breast cancer, it gives us a lot of energy,” Dr. Venkatappa says. “It shows us what can be achieved by working together with the patient.”

‘I Just Knew’

Ms. Tomé’s journey began unexpectedly in the summer of 2016 while she was in the Florida Keys with her husband and extended family.

She awoke in the middle of the night and, while clutching her chest, discovered a lump she had never noticed before.

“I just knew something was not good,” she recalls.

Back in Miami, she contacted her OB-GYN and quickly underwent imaging and a biopsy. Then came the phone call confirming breast cancer.

Her thoughts immediately went to her family.

“I had a three-year-old at the time, and I wondered whether I would be around to see him grow up,” she says.

Ms. Tomé was 46 and was diagnosed with stage 2, ER-positive, PR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer that had spread to a lymph node. Her treatment would ultimately include chemotherapy, bilateral mastectomies, radiation and long-term hormone-blocking medication.

A Team Takes Over

One of the first people to give Ms. Tomé confidence that she could get through what lay ahead was Dr. Wang, a breast medical oncologist at the Institute. "

"My first impression of Dr. Wang was that she had the biggest heart in the world, but she was also all business,” Ms. Tomé recalls. “She wanted me to have everything I needed to make informed decisions and have the best possible experience and outcomes.”

Overwhelmed by the diagnosis, Ms. Tomé often brought her husband and sister to appointments. Dr. Wang’s calm demeanor helped steady them, too.

“She told me, ‘It’s going to be okay. We’re going to take this one step at a time,’” Ms. Tomé remembers.

Ms. Tomé’s Wertheim Cancer Institute care team also included breast surgical oncologist Gladys Giron, M.D., and a multidisciplinary team of specialists that reviewed her case and coordinated the sequence of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.

Dr. Giron describes breast cancer treatment as increasingly individualized rather than “one size fits all,” with physicians considering the cancer itself along with a patient’s age, family history, overall health, genetics and personal circumstances when recommending treatment.

That personalization works hand in hand with collaboration.

"Multidisciplinary breast cancer care is like a relay race in which specialists pass the baton from one phase of treatment to the next while the larger team coordinates care throughout the journey," Dr. Giron says.

Reclaiming Her Strength

For Ms. Tomé, getting through treatment was about more than eliminating cancer. It was also about holding onto a sense of herself.

Shortly after finishing chemotherapy—and just days before her bilateral mastectomy—she completed the Miami Half Marathon.

“I wanted to feel that I had some control and power over something,” she says. “I wanted to prove to myself that my body was still strong enough to go into surgery and withstand it.”

The experience became symbolic of the decade that followed: surviving cancer, but also figuring out what life after cancer should look like.

That has become an increasingly important part of modern cancer care.

“For the longest time, patients were treated, got rid of their cancers and did well, but they were often left on their own to get back to being functioning members of society,” Dr. Venkatappa says.

Today, Wertheim Cancer Institute offers services that extend well beyond active treatment, including rehabilitation, psychological support and nutrition services designed to address patients’ physical and emotional recovery.

“Having physicians, patient navigators, nutritionists, pharmacists, exercise services and survivorship programs integrated within one cancer center reflects our focus on treating not just the cancer but the entire patient,” Dr. Venkatappa says.

Ten Years of Change

Ms. Tomé’s 10-year milestone also provides a window into how much breast cancer treatment has evolved since 2016.

Some elements of her treatment remain standard today, Dr. Venkatappa says, but physicians now have increasingly sophisticated tools to analyze a tumor’s molecular characteristics and use that information to tailor therapy.

“Our ability to test for mutations and use those mutations to direct therapy has improved tremendously,” he says. “That has helped us tailor treatments and make them more effective.”

Radiation therapy has evolved as well, he says, with technologies designed to deliver effective treatment while reducing exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. And newer targeted therapies and immunotherapies are providing options for some patients that can attack cancer more precisely.

“We live in exciting times in terms of breast cancer treatment,” Dr. Venkatappa says. “Every few months, we have new treatments that give us more options and less toxic options.”

Ready to ‘Graduate’

After nearly a decade under the care of Dr. Wang, Ms. Tomé admits she was apprehensive when the doctor’s medical leave meant transitioning her follow-up care to Dr. Venkatappa.

“As a cancer survivor, you become very bonded to your oncologist, to the person you feel saved your life,” she says.

Her concerns disappeared during their first visit.

“He spent all the time I needed, answered every question and asked whether I was ready to ‘graduate’ as a cancer patient,” she says. “He was a great listener—very kind, compassionate and patient.”

Ms. Tome’s follow-up visits can now move from every six months to annually. She remains with no evidence of disease.

And when she recently returned to the Institute on the 10th anniversary of completing her treatment and she rang the bell once again, it felt very different from the first time.

“Being able to ring it today from a place of health is something to celebrate,” she says. “These are tears of joy.”

Cancer changed Ms. Tomé’s relationship with work, family and even herself. She eventually became a certified professional coach and now works as a cancer survivorship coach, helping others navigate some of the same challenges she faced.

Ten years after wondering whether she would see her three-year-old become a teenager, she has an answer.

“If I could go back and talk to newly diagnosed Eileen, I would start with: You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be better than okay,” she says. “You’re going to see your son grow up. You’re going to see your eldest son get married. You’re going to meet your first grandchild.”

For Dr. Venkatappa, that is precisely what long-term cancer care is ultimately working toward.

“There’s a lot of hope,” he says. “And I’m very optimistic.”

Visit BaptistHealth.net/Mammo to learn more or schedule mammogram. Eligible women can now schedule a screening mammogram without a provider’s order.