[6 min read]
In this article:
- At 37, Renee Leaf was healthy, bubbly, life-loving and active when a serious breast cancer diagnosis rocked her world.
- As the agressive cancer spread to other parts of Renee's body, her care team at the Providence Swedish Cancer Institute was determined to exhaust every option to save life.
- Providence Swedish is home to some of the world's most advanced clinical trials, including one that was a perfect fit for Renee's type of cancer. Today, her doctors say she is responding "beautifully".
- Watch the video to hear more from Renee and learn how philanthropy is saving lives today with the medicine of tomorrow.
Vivacious. Authentic. Determined. Ask for a description of 39-year-old Renee Leaf, and any one of these adjectives will eventually surface. As will her love of running and weightlifting. Or her penchant for fabulous clothes. And definitely her fondness for lipstick, of which she has more than 45 shades. In many ways, Renee is the same outgoing person she was in the summer of 2023, when everything in her life changed.
It started with a lump in her right breast. At 37 years old and otherwise healthy, Renee wasn’t due to start receiving mammograms for another three years, but she insisted on getting it checked out early.
“As soon as the radiologist put the ultrasound wand on my spot, he was like, ‘Everything I see here is consistent with cancer,’” Renee says.
The lump, it turns out, was a seven-centimeter-long tumor. That’s when Renee was referred to Susan Montgomery, M.D., an oncologist at Providence Swedish Cancer Institute Edmonds.
“Here was this vivacious, bubbly, young, healthy woman whose entire world has been rocked,” Dr. Montgomery recalls of their first meeting. “I could see she was putting on a brave face, so I just tried to be an anchor for her.”
What Dr. Montgomery said during that appointment still sticks with Renee to this day: “She told me, ‘My treasure chest is wide, and it is deep.’ And if that doesn’t give someone hope, I don’t know what will.”
With the assurance that Dr. Montgomery and the Providence Swedish Cancer Institute team would exhaust every treatment option available, Renee began her first of four rounds of infusion chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. But then she developed a pain in her ribs that wouldn’t go away. A scan showed the cancer had spread to Renee’s hip, liver, and one of her ribs.
Stories like Renee’s are becoming more and more common, with cancer diagnoses in adults younger than 50 expected to increase by 30 percent globally by 2030. For those reasons, Renee feels fortunate to be treated at Providence Swedish, where doctors are collaborating and constantly looking into clinical trials. Here, she says, running out of options is never an option.
“We went from a very straightforward situation and curative chemotherapy to now having metastatic disease,” Dr. Montgomery says. “Inside, I’m crushed. But I have to walk in with a plan because I know that’s what Renee needs.”
After chemotherapy, they pivoted to an aromatase inhibitor paired with a CDK 4/6 inhibitor, a type of medication that disrupts breast cancer cells as they try to divide and multiply. The new plan seemed to work — scans looked good in April 2024. But by July, the breast tumor was growing again.
A repeat biopsy determined that the biomarkers for the disease had changed. In essence, the cancer had evolved from being a highly receptive estrogen- and progesterone-driven cancer to a low-estrogen and -progesterone driven one. By November, it had spread to additional spots on Renee’s liver and femur.
That’s when Dr. Montgomery pulled out her treasure chest. She reviewed a list of clinical research trials being conducted at Providence Swedish, searching for ones that might fit Renee’s disease type. It just so happened that Fengting Yan, M.D., FACP, a breast oncologist at Providence Swedish Cancer Institute First Hill was running a phase 1 clinical trial that was a perfect match.
“Every time I have a clinical trial open, I reach out to doctors in the community to make sure they are aware that we have this opportunity and see if they happen to have a patient,” Dr. Yan says. “It was such a coincidence that exactly when Renee needed a slot, we had a slot open.”
Dr. Yan runs the sole site in the Pacific Northwest for a highly competitive KAT6 inhibitor clinical trial designed for patients with stage 4 cancer who have progressed beyond the standard care therapy. Renee is now one of just a handful of patients nationwide in her cohort on the trial and is responding “beautifully,” Dr. Yan says, after being on the medication for only a few months.
Stories like Renee’s are becoming more and more common, with cancer diagnoses in adults younger than 50 expected to increase by 30 percent globally by 2030. For those reasons, Renee feels fortunate to be treated at Providence Swedish, where doctors are collaborating and constantly looking into clinical trials. Here, she says, running out of options is never an option.
“We’re grateful that so many families are positively impacted by the cancer institute and choose to donate toward supporting clinical trials,” Dr. Montgomery says. “That’s the backbone of advancing the field of oncology.”
Renee is also grateful for the personal support she’s been given via philanthropy. Thanks to Northwest Hope and Healing, a local organization that’s partnered with Providence Swedish Cancer Institute to support patients for 25 years, Renee received immediate financial assistance to pay for groceries and other living expenses during her treatment.
“Just because life changed for me doesn’t mean it has to stop,” Renee says. “This whole experience has made me realize that there’s a lot of love in my life.”
Learn more and find a physician or advanced practice clinician (APC)
At the Providence Swedish Cancer Institute, we know that no two cancers are alike. That’s why we focus on you — not your disease. If you need cancer care or are looking for testing to determine your cancer risk, we can help.
You can also learn more about available clinical trials. Our physician investigators and researchers are involved in hundreds of ongoing trials involving most types of cancer.
Whether you require an in-person visit or want to consult a doctor virtually, you have options. Contact Swedish Primary Care to schedule an appointment with a primary care physician. You can also connect virtually with your doctor to review your symptoms, provide instruction and follow up as needed. And with Swedish ExpressCare Virtual, you can receive treatment in minutes for common conditions such as colds, flu, urinary tract infections, and more. You can use our provider directory to find a specialist or primary care physician near you.
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About the Swedish Foundation
Your generous gift helps support a healthy tomorrow for everyone in every community we serve. Learn about more ways to give to the Swedish Foundation or make a direct donation online at swedishfoundation.org. You can also contact the Foundation at 206-368-2738 or email foundation@swedish.org. Thank you for helping us shape the future of healthcare. We can’t do it without you.
Related resources
Separating breast cancer myths from reality can help you understand you risk
To honor the love of his life, a gift of gratitude
Providence Swedish is transforming cancer care and research
Research at Swedish is saving lives. Your support will help it continue.
This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care. Always follow your health care professional's instructions.
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