Medullary thyroid cancer survivor trusts MD Anderson for long-term care

In March 2019, Dana Reeves was preparing for several milestones. Her daughter was getting ready to graduate from high school. Her husband was about to retire from the military. And her family was preparing to move from Germany back to the United States.

Something she hadn’t planned for? A medullary thyroid cancer diagnosis. But at age 46, that’s exactly what she faced.

Bloodwork leads to medullary thyroid cancer diagnosis

In 2006, Dana was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease in which groups of cells form tiny growths, called granulomas, in different organs in the body.

“It was built into our military orders that I had to be checked yearly for sarcoidosis,” she says. “After I received a great checkup from my doctor, I asked for bloodwork to provide to my civilian doctor since we were about to retire from the military.”

The bloodwork revealed something odd in Dana’s parathyroid gland. She was referred to an endocrinologist in Germany, who performed an ultrasound.

“Once he started the ultrasound, he said, ‘You have a lump on the right side of your thyroid, and I’m pretty sure it’s cancer,’” she recalls. “I was shocked.”

Dana had a biopsy the next day. Pathology reports confirmed that she had stage III medullary thyroid cancer. 

“I wanted to see my daughter graduate, and I didn’t want her to have a memory of her mom suffering with cancer,” says Dana. “My husband and I grabbed each other’s hands. We didn’t crumble. We didn’t fall apart. We just relied on what we’d always had – our faith.”  

Surgery to treat medullary thyroid cancer

After receiving her diagnosis, Dana was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist in Germany. The doctor did not feel comfortable treating the advanced cancer and recommended a thyroid cancer surgeon in Florida.

So, Dana was transported by a military medical airlift to Florida on April 22 and had surgery the next day.

“My calcitonin levels were at 2,200 – up from 1,200 a month earlier. That’s how fast the cancer was growing,” she says. “By that point, it should have spread everywhere. But my surgeon discovered that it was just located in my right thyroid.”

Dana had a total thyroidectomy with a central neck dissection. The surgeon removed Dana’s entire thyroid as well as 17 lymph nodes. They all came back clear.

Returning to the U.S. and receiving specialized care at MD Anderson

Dana had returned to Germany when her surgeon called with the news that all the cancer was gone.

“I asked him, ‘Where do I go from here?’ I told him I was moving back to Texas, and I’d never received any specialty care other than for sarcoidosis,” she says. “Without hesitating, he said I should see Dr. Mimi Hu at MD Anderson. My life had been in his hands, and he’d treated me so well that I trusted what my surgeon said. So, I said, ‘I’m going to MD Anderson.’”

But not before seeing her daughter graduate high school and celebrating her husband’s retirement from 24 years in the military.

In July, Dana’s family moved back to Texas, settling near the Dallas/Fort Worth area. It was centrally located to her daughter’s college, her parents’ home and MD Anderson.

“MD Anderson knows what they’re doing. You get in and do your bloodwork and scans and see the doctor all in the same day,” says Dana, who now only comes once a year for checkups. “Dr. Hu, her nurses and the entire crew at MD Anderson have been phenomenal. The nurses make you feel like you’re their only patient. They answer all of my questions.”

MD Anderson helps manage treatment side effects

Because Dana no longer has a thyroid, she takes an oral synthetic thyroid hormone called levothyroxine daily. When her levels are off, sometimes she experiences fatigue or a change in mood.

“When that happens, I just log into MD Anderson’s portal and tell them that I think my levels are off,” says Dana. “They’ll send me a lab slip through MyChart, then I’ll visit a local lab and my results are sent to MD Anderson. My care team will tweak my dosage as needed.”

Dana’s also dealt with both weight loss and weight gain since her surgery and gone into early menopause.

“I literally went into surgery at my goal weight and came home 10 pounds heavier,” she says. “I’ve probably gained 30 pounds in this journey of back and forth and up and down. It’s frustrating, but I will take a little bit of weight gain over having cancer any day.”

Embarking on survivorship

Dana is thankful for the care she has received at MD Anderson.

“Even though I have a family doctor locally, I run everything by Dr. Hu,” she says. “I value and trust her opinion.”

Dana’s most recent checkup was in February. She was with her husband, and Hu’s nurse practitioner Rebekah Puls was going over the results.

“I remember telling my husband that I think it had been five years since my diagnosis and wondered at what point do they cut you loose,” says Dana.

Moments later, Hu entered the room and shared some wonderful news.

“Dr. Hu said, ‘Mrs. Reeves, your levels for five years have not only been stable, they’ve also been undetectable. I wanted to let you know that we’re going to move you from cancer patient to cancer survivor,’” recalls Dana. “My husband and I started bawling. So was Rebekah. And when I shared with Dr. Hu that when I was first diagnosed, my wish was to see my daughter graduate high school, she started crying.”  

Dana was presented with her survivorship certificate, and Hu explained what it meant and what Dana’s care might look like going forward. She is excited about transitioning to survivorship.

“I’m happy to share my experience because now that I’m on the other side of it, I can give somebody hope and reassurance that they can get through this,” she says. “MD Anderson is the standard. Put yourself in their hands, and they will walk with you through every stage.”

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