Anastasia Berkheimer, a San Diego woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time found a new way of fighting the disease. So far, so good : she is now cancer free.
Anastasia beat cancer the first time with radiation, but it was painful. She went to her doctor, who told her she got second to third degree burns during her treatment. “I thought I was fine but then one test turned out to be not good.”
It was right around that time she heard about Scripps Proton Therapy Center opening in San Diego. It aims to treat cancer patients with a new laser technology the size of a pencil lead allowing doctors to hit tumors without affecting the surrounding normal tissue.
“I had doubts”, Anastasia said, but she gave it a try earlier this month and became the center’s first breast cancer patient.
Unlike her 4 month long radiation treatment, her proton therapy was over in 2 weeks. Now cancer free, she’s getting back what cancer tried to take away, even if she knows there’s still a chance the cancer may come back.
