Two-Time Breast Cancer Survivor: I'm Grateful for Proton Therapy

After a double mastectomy to remove a tumor in her breast, Sharon Prolow of Jupiter, Florida thought she'd put the cancer behind her. When it came back, she was terrified, but determined to fight it.
"I knew I wanted to be alive for another 50 years to watch my children grow up and see my future grandchildren."

[Transcript]
Sharon Prolo:
My name is Sharon Prolo. I'm 51 years old. I live in Jupiter, Florida and I'm a two time breast cancer survivor. I was first diagnosed with breast cancer on October 25th, 2017. I decided right then and there that I was going to get a double mastectomy because I wanted to make sure that I never had to worry about this again and that it would get everything removed.
Sharon Prolo:
I was terrified when the cancer returned. I will never forget that moment where I was and how I felt because I felt that having a double mastectomy would take care of everything, but it didn't. I knew I wanted to be alive for another 50 years to watch my children grow up, to be there for all the special moments in their life. When my son thought that I was going to have to leave and go to Boston for treatment, he was devastated and for my kids I knew that I wanted to stay as close to home as possible, but also get the best care. Once I went down to see Miami Cancer Institute, I knew that they had all of the cutting edge technology that was needed to treat recurrent cancer. They had it all under one roof.
Siddartha Venkatappa, M.D.:
When Sharon came to me with recurrent breast cancer, we approached her with a team approach. It was the breast surgeon, the radiation oncologist and myself who all saw her one after the other. All her life she had control of what she did and all of a sudden she was faced with a situation where she was not completely in control and that bothered her tremendously. That affected her, so I needed to reach out to her and convince her that it's going to be okay.
Sharon Prolo:
I'm so grateful to all of the doctors. They didn't tell me necessarily what I wanted to hear, but they told me what I needed to hear. The first treatment was that we had to get the tumor removed and I had to do an implant exchange. At that point I needed to get aggressive chemotherapy over 18 weeks and then two months of radiation following that. When you are told that you have cancer, the second time around, the thoughts that go through your mind and the nervousness that I felt, I saw that big race in front of me like a marathon. Not sure if I was ever going to get to the finish line. When I went to Dr. Venkatappa and I was sad, I was in a little bit of pain from the chemo treatments, from the Neulasta. He sent me right over to the different floor that I can see a palliative care doctor.
Siddartha Venkatappa, M.D.:
Whether it's a psychiatrist, or psychologist, or an exercise physiologist, or an acupuncture specialist, or a massage therapist or a nutritionist, everything is here under one roof and that helps the patient tremendously and that improves their care and that improves their overall outcome too.
Sharon Prolo:
I feel proton therapy is one of the reasons that I'm going to be alive for many years. What really attracted me to proton therapy was the fact that my other organs wouldn't be harmed. I didn't realize how rare it was. There's only 27 centers across the country. So the fact that I was able to get proton therapy radiation at Miami Cancer Institute in my home state, I felt like all the worlds were coming together for me. It was a very happy moment the day that I knew that I was approved for this type of treatment.
Sharon Prolo:
The day that I finished my proton therapy treatment, my first thought was, I am so thankful to be here. Everybody at Miami Cancer Institute for making this happen. This time I felt like I was really done.
Siddartha Venkatappa, M.D.:
It was an emotional experience for all of us who were there because we were there with her through her journey and I've seen her since then and I see how well she's doing and she's at back to her vibrant personality and it's a pleasure to see that.
Sharon Prolo:
Survivor means to me, everything. It shows that I was able to get through this not once, but twice. It puts the world in a whole new light for me in that I'm able to see the colors, and the rainbows, and the flowers and the good in people. I'm very thankful to my husband, my daughter, my son. I was always the rock for the family and now they had to be the rock. They were always there for me and I'm one of the lucky ones. Cancer is tough, but I am tougher.

[End of Transcript]
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