A 31-year-old mother with aggressive breast cancer who is given just a year to live turns to experimental treatments from a Montreal hospital in hopes of beating the disease and seeing her family growing up.

"It's not true that my son is going to lose his mother at 13, insists Myriam Dubuc, whose spouse also has two children. I don't think it will end like this. »

The resident of Saint-Constant, on the South Shore of Montreal, learned last month that her breast cancer was stage 4 triple negative, the most aggressive form.

In addition, it has spread above a collarbone.

The disease thus became incurable, decided his doctors. A real "shovel" for Ms. Dubuc.

“I had to learn on April 27 that I had cancer to my family, my friends, my colleagues. But on May 16, I had to tell them I had a year to live, she says. It's twice to tell my son that I have breast cancer and that finally, we don't have much time left. »

Healing goal

In addition to traveling abroad for treatment, an option was offered to the mother of the family: to integrate the research protocol of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC).

“Normal treatments give me a year. I don't want a year, I'm aiming for a cure, ”says Ms. Dubuc bluntly, who proudly wore a blue sweater when she met Le Journal that read “F*ck cancer”.

Experimental treatments at the MUHC include chemotherapy and intravenous immunotherapy, once every three weeks, for an indefinite period.

"New drugs with chemotherapy can better target cancer cells and spare [healthy] cells," says oncologist and principal investigator of the clinical trial, Dr. Jamil Asselah.

Already, after one session, the treatment has delivered encouraging results for Myriam Dubuc.

The majority of her lumps are no longer "palpable" on her skin and she is even still able to train in the gym.

“We already have some data that gives us high hopes. And it's true that to see young patients like that able to have an almost normal life while having their treatments, it's something beautiful, "says Dr. Asselah.

Live to the fullest

Although she is overflowing with optimism, Myriam Dubuc wants to take full advantage of the next year.

"We are preparing for my son's birthday in July [...] I want to do it as if it were the last", she illustrates.

The 30-year-old also froze her eggs to maintain the possibility of having children after beating cancer … but also to leave them to her 14-year-old sister, if she cannot manage to get by.

“I felt a lot of things were taken away from me. Maybe a lot of time was taken away from me, my breasts, my hair, lists Ms. Dubuc. And it was also a bereavement to tell myself that I would never have a baby again. »

A campaign to financially support Myriam Dubuc is underway. It is possible to contribute here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/du-support-pour-myriam

Source: Canadian Cancer Society, Public Health Agency of Canada and Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation​​