Patient Travels for “World-Class Breast Cancer Care”

Kelley Whittington was 45 when her cancer suddenly appeared.

On alert because her mom had breast cancer, Kelley was aware that she has dense breasts and was accustomed to regularly getting a 3D mammogram. However, she admitted that “with COVID, I slipped for a couple of years.”

It was in June 2022, when Kelley felt a large lump in her left breast. She immediately met with her PCP in Cadillac who referred her to Trinity Health’s Richard J. Lacks Sr. Cancer Center in Grand Rapids. Her appointment was with Jamie Caughran, MD, FACS, lead medical director Oncologic Surgical Specialties, Trinity Health Grand Rapids.

Why She Chose Trinity Health

“I wanted the best care. I wanted a Magnet hospital with high patient safety and quality scores. I was blown away at my first meeting with Dr. Caughran. Typically, medicine is ‘get them in, and get them out.’ That was not my experience at all. Dr. Caughran spent more than an hour with me and my boyfriend.

“And I was completely amazed with the team approach to my care.”

Kelley’s team consisted of a lead nurse; a nurse navigator; an oncology nurse; a social worker; her surgeon, Dr. Caughran; her oncologist, Thomas Gribbin, MD; and her radiation oncologist, Derek Bergsma, MD.

“After the initial meeting, the staff coordinated appointments throughout the next year — all behind the scenes. There was just one point of contact for all of my appointments. I didn’t need to call individual departments to schedule. All I had to do was show up, and that removed so much stress” she said.

Kelley found great comfort in emerging from the first team meeting with a plan.

“They even had someone on the team who could navigate billing,” she added.

Once she received the treatment plan from Dr. Caughran, Kelley sought a virtual second opinion with Cleveland Clinic.

“That opinion aligned 100% with Dr. Caughran’s plan, so I chose to travel to Trinity Health in Grand Rapids to get world-class care.”

A Customized Treatment Plan

Kelley’s tumor was fairly large, but thankfully, her aggressive, triple negative breast cancer had not spread into her lymph nodes or anywhere else in her body.

Dr. Caughran explained that Kelley’s cancer needed to be treated aggressively. The plan was to do neoadjuvant therapy to shrink the tumor prior to surgery. In order to determine if following that therapy Kelley would have a less-invasive lumpectomy or a total mastectomy, she first needed to undergo gene testing.

“Fortunately for me, all of my genes came back negative for a mutation,” she said.

The Journey Began

“I began my chemotherapy and an immunotherapy infusion at the end of July. Having a port in my chest was one of the biggest blessings,” she said gratefully.

But there was just one more thing — Kelley didn’t want to lose her long hair. She was determined to find a way to keep it.

Kelley’s lead nurse told her about one patient who went through cold capping, which is a strict, demanding regimen during and following the administration of chemo that is designed to help preserve the patient’s hair.

Once Dr. Gribbin agreed she could try cold capping, Kelley reached out to a not-for profit that helps cover the cost of cold capping, which is not considered to be medically necessary by insurance companies.

“You have to be committed to the hair care routine,” Kelley emphasized. “Everything from the type of shampoo, frequency of washing, temperature of the water and how you can wear your hair — to finding dry ice weekly. Maintaining the right temperature of the dry ice in portable coolers to keep the caps cold during the many hours of chemotherapy and afterwards makes execution challenging. You have to be committed.”

In fact, Kelley said she couldn’t have done it without a “team” of people around her to manage the protocol for each chemo appointment.

But it was worth it because Kelley lost very little hair. She attributes her success to being “uber strict about following the rules with the cold capping,” along with her healthy diet, constant hydration, and positive attitude. She estimates her hair loss to be about 10%.

More Good News from Treatment

After her third week of chemotherapy, Kelley had an appointment to be physically examined.

“I’ll never forget the look on the nurse practitioner’s face,” Kelley said. “She said to me, ‘Your tumor is already half its original size!’”

By her fifth or sixth treatment, Kelley couldn’t feel the tumor at all.

In January 2023, Kelley underwent a lumpectomy with a sentinel lymph node biopsy. The testing of the lymph nodes showed no trace of the cancer.

The next therapy was six weeks of radiation, which lasted until the end of March. “Dr. Bergsma offered to refer me to radiation therapy in Traverse City, but I said no. The Lacks Cancer program was so flawless that I decided to receive radiation at Lacks Cancer Center as well.”

Kelley’s immunotherapy infusion continued until July.

Kelley’s Prognosis 

“Kelley is a remarkable woman who had an incredible response to her treatment,” said Dr. Caughran. “Through coordination of multiple treatment modalities (neoadjuvant chemotherapy with Keytruda), we were able to destroy all evidence of Kelley’s cancer before surgery.

“When no cancer cells remain after receiving chemotherapy, it is a celebration that the chemo did exactly what we were hoping it would. Having microscopic evidence that not a single cancer cells remain gives us more confidence in the long-term success of the plan because we know how the tumor responded to treatment. By far, these are my favorite phone calls to make.”

Worth the Drive?

Kelley is confident that driving two and a half hours for her care was worth it.

“The patient experience was and still is phenomenal: the listening, the coordination, the quality, the safety, and the seamlessness — they made it so easy. Before cancer, I was scared of blood draws. I am so thankful that the oncology lab technician, who I saw almost every week, got me over that fear. Everyone I encountered truly demonstrated what a Magnet hospital is supposed to feel like, and that is worth all the road miles!”

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