Sonoma woman battles breast cancer with defiance, optimism

Odds are for bookies and gamblers, not for Kaitlyn Hanna.

When she discovered a blueberry-sized lump in her left breast in late 2014, she was only 23, too young to fit the high-risk demographic for breast cancer.

Fewer than 2 percent of new cases of female breast cancer are found in those 20 to 34, with the majority middle-aged or older, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Hanna saw her doctor, though, and followed up with an ultrasound. She cut out the caffeine and chocolate suspected of causing tissue enhancements in her breast and tried to embrace reassurances it was likely a fibroadenoma, a benign tumor common in young women.

But Hanna discovered cancer doesn’t discriminate. It reaches across ages, ethnicities and economics, and affects those - like herself - with even the healthiest of diets and lifestyles.

Within a few months of the self-examination that revealed her lump, it had grown walnut-sized and her anxiety mounted. She tried to convince herself the odds were stacked against a breast cancer diagnosis; instead, a biopsy confirmed her fears. A PET scan showed she had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, an advanced cancer that already had spread to her liver and spine.

She was 24. The news was numbing for the Sonoma woman. It marked the days “before cancer” and created a huge crevasse across her world to life “with cancer.”

The phone call asking her to come and speak with her physician just before her initial diagnosis was more than unsettling.

“Immediately my heart just dropped. It was a horrible situation,” she said.

Alone in her doctor’s office in Sonoma after a blur of a drive from her receptionist’s job at a Marin veterinary hospital, Hanna heard the dreaded words that even the gentlest of deliveries can’t mask: “You have cancer.”

“It just went in and out my other ear. I can’t even tell you how shocked I was,” Hanna said. “I went numb. My body tingled and it was like being in a tunnel. All I could hear was ‘cancer.’”

After enduring six rounds of chemotherapy with a trio of drugs that left her nauseous, bald and with aching bones, Hanna is once again proving odds aren’t for everyone.

The animal-loving woman with the broad smile and dimples recently celebrated one year with “no evidence of disease” - the official term for no signs of cancer - and she’s sporting a stylish pixie haircut, making career plans to become an aesthetician and trying to move on with her life.

She’s grateful for each day, the tiniest joys and the generosity of her tight inner circle and caring strangers alike. Little things no longer bother her.

She’s taken some family vacations, flown to New York to visit a friend in Brooklyn and traveled alone to Bali and Thailand.

Ask what makes her happy and her answer is immediate: “My dogs, being outdoors, hiking, going to the gym, running, Bikram yoga, going to the beach. Spending time with my family and friends is probably the No. 1 thing.”

Her strength, positive attitude and unwavering army of supporters have gotten her through the darkest and most uncertain days, and continue to help her beat the odds head-on and with defiance.

“They do say with what I have, the average life expectancy is two to three years,” Hanna said. “I just have to stay positive and keep doing what I’ve been doing that’s keeping me strong.”

Each person, each cancer case, is different, she said, and no one - not even the most seasoned medical expert - can predict the future. Hanna’s cancer is HER2-positive, with a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells. She’s gotten second opinions at UCSF and Stanford; all were in agreement about her treatment plan at Marin Cancer Care in Greenbrae.

Now 25, she detours around the appointments she has every three weeks for an hour-long Herceptin/Perjeta infusion she expects to continue throughout her life. She’s long gotten over her disdain of needles.

Hanna doesn’t sugarcoat her cancer experience. There have been moments of defeat and depression, times when she hasn’t felt well enough to leave her bed, where her purebred boxer Charlie is always at her side.

Her parents, Bob and Gayle Hanna, older brother Dean, and extended family and friends rallied from the start, embracing her with love and encouragement even as they struggled with their own worries and fears. Her dad’s “chin up, chest out” directive has been the steadfast mantra.

Several loved ones shaved their heads during a Fourth of July party unlike any other. First Kaitlyn Hanna parted with the long, dirty-blonde locks that already had started falling out. Then a group of others, even a female cousin in her 20s with “long, really pretty hair,” shaved their heads in support and solidarity.

Even though “going without hair is the least of your worries,” it was traumatic for Hanna to lose her sense of femininity. “You look in the mirror,” she said, “and you look sick.” Having a bald-headed group of supporters “was awesome. It was pretty incredible. We went out to dinner and you couldn’t tell who was sick.”

“If it wasn’t for my family and my friends and my community, I don’t know where I’d be. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have that. I’m very, very grateful.”

Hanna’s using her experience to help other young women struggling through breast cancer. While the chance of a diagnosis for someone under 30 is improbable, it’s not impossible - and Hanna has met others who have been in that minority.

A classmate from Sonoma Valley High School who no longer lives in the area contacted Hanna through social media to share she also had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Hanna offered encouragement and support, and hopes to reach out to others similarly diagnosed.

She’s been inspired by women of all ages with breast cancer, whom she’s met through treatments and on the runway at last year’s To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation’s fashion show featuring models with the disease.

Hanna sported two outfits and during an “empowering” moment at the closing, pulled off her wig to reveal her bald head.

She’s twice had teams at the local Relay for Life event to help raise funds for research and patient services for the American Cancer Society, walking with pride during the emotional Survivors’ Lap.

She encourages self-examinations and personal advocacy for early detection.

She hopes her strength and positive outlook continue to guide her and perhaps motivate and inspire others battling breast cancer.

“Now I feel like I’ve been given this gift to help other people who are going through this, to help with their motivation,” she said. “You’ve got to live life every day and be around people who love you and support you, and enjoy even the bad days. And never lose hope.”

A trust fund has been established to help with costly medical expenses outside Kaitlyn Hanna’s insurance coverage. Donations can be made to “Kaitlyn Hanna Special Needs Fund,” Exchange Bank, 435 W. Napa St., Sonoma.

For more information, contact Wendy Ruiz at 939-6802.