Immunotherapy helps ‘Jersey girl’ live a full life after breast cancer
A positive attitude helped one woman along her journey
When Susan Obuch of Easton was diagnosed with breast cancer, she adopted the mindset that attitude is everything.
A positive outlook helped her through chemotherapy, a mastectomy and immunotherapy treatment at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center.
“It’s only a breast,” Ms. Obuch told a friend who cried for her. “It’s not your eyesight.”
The outgoing 78-year-old New Jersey native still calls herself a “Jersey girl” — and says it’s her nature to keep her spirits up and fill her life with family, friends and activities.
“I wasn’t fearful. I never thought of it as a death sentence. I didn’t let it stop my life,” Ms. Obuch says.
She was determined to make the best of her situation, even choosing a few different wigs to pair with her changing moods.
“I had fun with the wigs, like, ‘Who am I today?’” Ms. Obuch laughs. “I found a sisterhood of support at the wig salon. It was not a sad time. It was a time when similar circumstances were shared with others. It was comforting.”
From active treatment to cancer free
Now, Ms. Obuch is cancer-free after finishing her treatment in 2023. Just a year earlier, a routine mammogram found 3 tumors. She had 2 types of breast cancer, including an aggressive type called triple-negative breast cancer.
Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer that lacks hormone receptors for estrogen and progesterone and a protein, HER2. That means hormonal and HER2-targeted therapies don’t work — chemotherapy is the standard treatment. Triple-negative cancer is generally highly responsive to chemotherapy compared to other types of breast cancer, but it also has a higher risk of returning.
That’s where immunotherapy comes in. Oncologist Paula Ronjon, MD, used the immunotherapy drug Keytruda® in combination with chemotherapy against Ms. Obuch’s triple-negative cancer. The Food and Drug Administration approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for high-risk, early-stage triple-negative breast cancer in 2021.
Incorporating immunotherapy agents such as Keytruda with chemotherapy has shown improved outcomes in patients with early-stage triple-negative cancer, says Dr. Ronjon. The combination has been associated with higher cure rates and has become part of the evolving treatment landscape for this type of cancer.
After the chemotherapy/immunotherapy combination, Ms. Obuch had a mastectomy, followed by more immunotherapy treatments. It’s all part of the advanced cancer medicine and leading-edge treatment Geisinger offers patients.
“The treatment is significantly different for the different types of cancer,” says Dr. Ronjon’s colleague, Geisinger oncologist Priyanka Barua, MD. “The cancers that don’t have any receptors at all — triple-negative — they are the most aggressive ones.”
Early detection makes all the difference
“For breast cancer, regardless of what type it is, we have good treatment options if it’s caught early,” Dr. Barua says. “That’s why having routine mammograms is important. Most of the time, breast cancers are curable if you catch them early.”
And women should tell their doctor if they feel a change or a lump in their breast, she adds.
“It’s a problem that can happen at any age. If you see something unusual or suspicious or feel anything that isn’t normal, you should get medical attention. It could be nothing, but it’s always better to check.”
A fresh set of eyes
She had been a patient at another health system, but Ms. Obuch didn’t feel a personal connection there. After her diagnosis, her son, Joshua Obuch, MD, a Geisinger gastroenterologist, suggested she seek a second opinion at Geisinger’s Henry Cancer Center.
Ms. Obuch was pleased. “The nurses, doctors and physician assistants are phenomenal. The connection was there,” she says.
“The staff did everything for my comfort, mental as well as physical. I was treated with the utmost respect and such care. It was obvious that they treat everyone like that, no matter who you are.”
And now, Ms. Obuch is back to traveling, doing puzzles, babysitting grandchildren, socializing and walking her shih tzu, Jack, in her retirement community.
“You have to live life to the fullest,” she says.
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