Naples – She fought breast cancer without giving up her dream of becoming a mother. Today, Antonella Bonomo is well, disease-free, and shares her story to give strength to those facing the same battle: the battle against cancer and the fear of giving up on their future.
Diagnosis at 33: "Two sentences at once."
Antonella was 33 when she received a life-changing diagnosis: aggressive breast cancer. The necessary treatments were lengthy and invasive, with a real risk of compromising her fertility.
“It was like receiving two sentences at once,” she says, “one about having to fight cancer and one about having to give up motherhood.”
After just a week, she underwent surgery, which was successful. But the first oncologist's words were a huge blow: "He told me I had to forget about becoming a mother. That's when I hit rock bottom."
The turning point at Pascale: "We're not just treating a disease."
Antonella doesn't give up. She seeks other opinions, searches for alternatives, until she lands at the Pascale National Cancer Institute in Naples, in the office of Dr. Michelino De Laurentiis.
«We are not just treating a disease – the oncologist explains – but a person, with his dreams and his plans».
Thus a delicate and courageous decision was born: to temporarily suspend hormone therapy after three years, instead of the planned five, to allow her to safely attempt a pregnancy.
Suspension of therapy and waiting
The checks are rigorous, and the fear of a relapse is ever-present. But along with the fear, hope grows. After a year and a half of treatment suspension, the news arrives that changes everything: Antonella is pregnant.
Diego's birth and the return to treatment
At 40, Antonella became a mother to Diego. Immediately after giving birth, she resumed cancer treatment to complete the planned course.
Today, she's 43, has been off treatment for over a year, and is disease-free. Her son calls it "the greatest miracle of my life."
A story that speaks to many women
Antonella's story is not only a testament to personal resilience, but it also reignites the debate on fertility protection in young cancer patients and the importance of increasingly personalized treatment pathways.
"In recent years," explains De Laurentiis, director of the Department of Senology and Thoracopulmonary Medicine at Pascale, "breast cancer research has made great strides: targeted therapies, immunotherapy, genomic testing, and personalized protocols are increasing survival rates and reducing side effects."
Research: Pregnancy possible without increasing risk
"Recent studies," adds the specialist, "demonstrate that, in selected patients with hormone-responsive breast cancer, temporarily suspending endocrine therapy to attempt pregnancy does not significantly increase the risk of recurrence in the short term. This is the strategy we adopted for this patient as well."
A story that demonstrates how today breast cancer, "while still a complex challenge, is increasingly a battle that can be won without giving up one's dreams."
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Source EDITORIAL TEAM
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