Woman Survives Stage IV Breast Cancer Recurrence to Brain, Gives Birth to Second Child

Maralee Lellio was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer at age 29. Her oncologist recommended chemotherapy and surgery. Lellio and her husband froze embryos before she began chemotherapy. She underwent a double mastectomy and was declared cancer-free in September 2019.

Once cancer-free, the couple started IVF with the goal of giving their firstborn daughter, then 2, a sibling. Headaches and dizziness began after she finished treatment. In summer 2020, an MRI revealed a very large brain tumor.

Lellio's initial breast cancer had recurred as Stage IV breast cancer that had spread to her brain. Only about 1 in 3 patients with Stage IV breast cancer survive more than five years, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Stage IV breast cancer is considered incurable.

Lellio underwent a craniotomy, but the disease grew back larger than before. She transferred her care to the Cleveland Clinic and began receiving radiation. The radiation treatment caused seizures and left her unable to walk.

Lellio's Cleveland Clinic oncologist retired in spring 2021. Her care was transferred to Dr. Halle Moore. Lellio had her first meeting with Dr. Halle Moore in July 2021. Scans showed radiation had shrunk Lellio's brain tumor down to almost nothing.

Dr. Halle Moore put Lellio on a PARP inhibitor medication. Lellio's cancer was BRCA-1 positive. Lellio remained on the PARP inhibitor for two years. She remained free of any evidence of active cancer during that time, Dr.

Halle Moore said. After waiting one year off the PARP inhibitor, Lellio became pregnant without IVF. Lellio and her husband welcomed their second daughter in July 2024. She is scheduled to receive a hysterectomy in the near future.

Lellio is back to work as a teacher. Dr. A person with a dire prognosis can end up doing extraordinarily well, especially as innovative treatments are developed.

Lellio recalled learning of the brain tumor during a summer 2020 emergency room visit. "They came back into the room where I was, and said 'We found a very large brain tumor ... and there's no cure, sorry,'" she said.

"And just left us. That's how I found out I had terminal cancer. " After radiation and setbacks, Lellio at one point accepted that she was dying. Her husband overheard her tell a friend she did not expect to see her daughter grow up or have a second child.

"He said, 'You know, Maralee, it really makes me sad when you tell people and when you accept that you only have a couple of years left, because I think that you could survive this,'" she recalled. That conversation, she said, flipped a switch.

"As soon as I met Dr. And she just said 'OK,'" Lellio said. Moore supported her desire to have another child with no argument. Since the birth, life has been messy, stressful and perfect, Lellio said.

She continues frequent scans with Dr. Halle Moore. For Mother's Day this year, she planned to celebrate simply being alive to experience it all.