By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Although it is commonly known that breast cancer is classified into different stages, many may be unaware that there are also different types of breast cancer. One rare form of the disease is triple-negative breast cancer, which disproportionately impacts Black women under 40.
An aggressive type, triple-negative breast cancer tends to grow and spread faster. It also has fewer treatment options because it lacks the three receptors—estrogen, progesterone and HER2—that many hormone-based therapies target.
Baltimorean Tara Doaty, 44, was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2024. She had gone in for her yearly mammogram at the top of the year, and her results came back normal. But in September 2024, while she was doing some dry brushing at home, she felt a lump. The pressure caused it to press against a nerve—a rare symptom, since tumors typically don’t move or cause pain.
She immediately went to her OB-GYN, who suspected it might be fatty tissue but still referred her for a mammogram and ultrasound. She was told she had cancer before even getting a biopsy.
“I was utterly devastated. I have a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I eat very well. I exercise. I grow organic food in a garden. I had genetic testing done because I’m under 50, and I didn’t have any genetic markers for it,” said Doaty. “I was angry, and I was confused because I had positioned myself to do everything right. I never thought cancer was going to be a part of my story.”
A couple weeks after the biopsy confirmed triple-negative breast cancer in one breast, an MRI uncovered estrogen-positive breast cancer in the other. With two types of breast cancer, doctors treated the most aggressive form first, which was the triple-negative.
Knowing that Doaty had a physically- and emotionally-taxing journey ahead of her, friends and family stepped up to support her.
“My village created a spreadsheet so that I never went to a chemo appointment alone the entire time. My chemo days were on Fridays, and if I got dehydrated over the weekend from being sick, someone was there to take me to get fluids that Monday,” said Doaty. “When I started the harder chemo, in addition to someone taking me to treatment, someone stayed the night with me because I was very weak.”
Doaty underwent weekly chemotherapy with Taxol for 12 weeks, followed by more intensive AC, or “red devil,” treatment every two weeks. The AC targets cancer throughout the body and comes with serious side effects, including the potential for heart damage. She later had a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery.
Currently, she’s on a pill to treat the estrogen-positive cancer found in her other breast, which she will have to take for five years.
“Chemo impacts every part of you, not just the cancer cells. My skin turned gray. My nails turned black. My tongue turned black because of the toxins,” said Doaty. “I was put into menopause, so in addition to the chemo making me feel weak, I had hot flashes and extreme bone pain.”
It also affected her sense of identity, especially as a woman.
“Breast cancer is a disease that makes you feel very anti-feminine. It takes all of the things that we are taught make us women—our hair, eyelashes, skin,” said Doaty. “Part of my healing process is making peace with my body not being the same. I have great admiration for it because it’s so much stronger than I thought it was physically and mentally, but it’s not the same.”
Navigating the healthcare system wasn’t easy for Doaty. Though she knew her doctors had her best interests at heart, at times it felt like they were solely focused on eradicating her cancer without any regard for the long-term effects treatment could have on her liver, heart and future well-being. Some hospital techs also made inappropriate, insensitive comments.
“They would be like, ‘Oh, you have triple negative, that’s the hard one, right?’ I didn’t need to hear that,” said Doaty. “It was just such a setback. I would have to fight my own mental anxiety to get through that and block it out.”
It’s been humor and faith that have kept her battling the disease.
“I want people to know that being a cancer survivor is a lifelong process. The side effects of the medications you’re on are not always immediate. They can come up years later,” said Doaty. “I want people to be sensitive to that and be as flexible as possible in supporting the survivor in finding a new identity.”
When 52-year-old Giovanna Hughes found out she had triple-negative breast cancer in 2018, like Doaty, she was stunned.
“When I got the diagnosis, I was floored. I felt like the rug had been taken out from under my feet. I thought it was a death sentence,” said Hughes. “I had a son who was a junior in high school. This was supposed to be the time where he was looking at colleges, and all I could think was: ‘I don’t want to leave my son. I want to see my son grow up.’”
Hughes, a Northern Virginia resident, was 46 at the time and had always been on top of her health. Her first sign that something was amiss was increased fatigue and a change in her hair’s growth. While taking a shower one day, she did a breast self-exam and felt something unusual. There was a rope-like texture and two lumps.
She knew that the disease ran on her father’s side of the family, but she wasn’t aware that there were different types of breast cancer. Thankfully, she caught it early at Stage 1B. At the time, it was only treatable with chemotherapy, radiation and a lumpectomy. She received all three.
“Everyone’s journey is different, but at the time I had really long hair, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to lose my hair,’” said Hughes. “I had no idea what else was going to be in store for me as the treatment’s effects took their toll on my body, and I still struggle mentally with my new look. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally grateful to be here, but a lot of people think your journey ends when you are done with treatment and it does not.”
Hughes, a teacher, continued to work through most of her treatment, and her administrative team supported her when she needed time off for radiation.
She also navigated limited family support. Her mother was battling Alzheimer’s, and her father was busy caring for her, leaving Hughes to largely manage her treatment and teenage son on her own. She credited her sister, a pathologist assistant, for helping her to understand her diagnosis and treatment options, as well as her support network at work for keeping her household running.
Like Doaty, faith has helped Hughes remain resilient. Her son has also been an inspiration to her. Encouraging others to take their health seriously, Hughes stressed the importance of vigilance in breast cancer detection.
“Get those yearly mammograms and do your monthly self breast-exam,” said Hughes. “It’s important because early detection is what saves lives. It saved mine.”
Marsha Ferrell, a lifelong Washingtonian, also faced triple-negative breast cancer. In November 2022, she began experiencing breast pain that grew so intense she couldn’t even wear a bra.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Marsha Ferrell
The now 43-year-old was out of town at the time and decided to visit the emergency room. There, doctors told her she had a cyst, prescribed an antibiotic and instructed her to visit her primary care physician when she returned home.
Her primary care doctor sent her to get a mammogram, and after further testing, she was diagnosed with Stage 2 triple-negative breast cancer in January 2023.
She began treatment soon after, undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and radiation. The process was physically and mentally grueling.
“It took a toll on me. I had really long hair my whole life. People say you’re not your hair, but it was part of my identity,” said Ferrell. “When chunks of hair started falling out that’s how I knew I was sick.”
During treatment, Ferrell also faced depression for the first time in her life.
“I had never experienced depression before. We’ve all been down, and I never wanted to harm myself, but I was OK if I wouldn’t wake up again,” said Ferrell. “I felt so alone. I had all the support in the world, but I was alone.”
Ferrell was prescribed medication to help her manage the depression, but she found additional support in journaling and documenting her journey. She took pictures of herself, recorded her symptoms and tracked milestones—giving her a sense of control amid the chaos and providing a tangible reminder of her resilience.
Ferrell’s experience also opened her eyes to broader issues in breast cancer awareness and prevention, including the need to lower the recommended age for mammograms.
“Women are getting diagnosed younger and younger,” said Ferrell. “Breast cancer is not a disease of older women.”
Unlike the other women, Deriece Harrington, a Southern Maryland resident, was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer, a rare type that tests positive for estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors. She was 36 when she found out. The diagnosis came in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020 and just months after she had her first child.
“I’m not an emotional person, but I immediately cried. We were dealing with COVID, and the world was at a standstill,” said Harrington. “I had just had a baby and got married. Life was on a high, and I just immediately felt like I was going to die.”
Harrington had felt a lump on her left breast, which she initially thought could have been backed up milk from breastfeeding. But, it kept growing. With pandemic social distancing and stay-at-home mandates in place, access to doctors’ offices was limited.
In July, she was finally able to get an appointment with her gynecologist, who then referred her to a breast surgeon. Both doctors assured her it was probably nothing serious at the outset.
After more testing, it was discovered that Harrington had three tumors in her breast and her cancer was at Stage 2B.
“The doctors tried to give me hope as if triple positive was a ‘good thing’ because there were remedies to cure it, whereas with triple negative there’s this connotation of that one being the worst to get because they’re still trying to test out how to address that particular type of cancer,” said Harrington.
Her treatment consisted of chemotherapy, hormone therapy and radiation, which stretched over several months. Harrington began with chemotherapy first, a process she described as feeling like being run over by three tractor trailers. She was forced to attend appointments alone because her husband needed to stay home with their young daughter.
After completing five months of infusions, she underwent a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of recurrence, followed by reconstructive surgery.
Harrington later received proton therapy, a more targeted form of radiation designed to minimize the damage to heart and lungs. Though it helped eliminate her cancer, it left lasting side effects, including nerve pain, scar tissue, lymphedema and radiation-induced pneumonia.
“Sometimes I don’t feel like a survivor because I’m still going through the side effects of this journey,” said Harrington. “It’s not over, but I don’t know if it will ever be over.”
Her daughter has remained her source of strength throughout her breast cancer treatment and recovery.
“I think I would have given into the darkness a long time ago if it wasn’t for that little girl. She’s literally the reason why I fight to survive and go through all of these hurdles to get my quality of life back, ” said Harrington. “She has been my lifeline. I want to make sure she has the best possible life that she can and that I’m there for the majority of it.”
