Join Nikki Hart's Fight Against Cancer

Nikki Hart was first diagnosed in February 2020 with stage 2 grade 3 Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma…had 4 rounds of chemo, lumpectomy, 33 rounds of radiation. After radiation her oncologist put her on Letrozole & a monthly Zoladex injection for two yrs then she would switch to another hormone blocker for 3+ yrs. 10/20 she was finishing up the Letrozole/Zoladex & her oncologist decided to schedule her for a CT scan because she hadn’t had one in a year. The CT scan revealed that her cancer had returned, and was in her liver.

The oncologist put Nikki on Verzenio which was chemo in pill form along with Tamoxifen to treat the tumors on her liver. She had been having some pretty intense lower back pain over the last few months and she had to be taken to the ER by ambulance because of so much pain. It was discovered that she had a spinal compression fracture in her L4. The oncologist wanted an MRI and that scan showed that the cancer was not only on the liver, but in her bones as well. But the medication’s that she is taking were working because the spots on her liver were almost completely gone and the spots on her bones were all stable. But the spinal fracture was in a spot where there is disease and it had caused the bone to weaken and that’s what caused the fracture. It was also discovered that she had a blood clot in her lung, which is also from the cancer that is in her liver. Nikki was put on steroids to help with the pain and inflammation in her back, and had to give herself shots in the stomach twice a day for a week to dissolve the blood clot in her lung. Also she started a monthly infusion called Zometa to help with bone weakness. She had a consultation with radiology to discuss the procedure they were going to do on her spine to repair the fracture. It has been a year since that surgery and she has some relief from that but not 100%. Unfortunately she had gone through another chemotherapy drug in pill form called Xeloda and it didn’t last long before she had to change the treatment plan again. It came with its own list of side effects but only worked for a few months. She will tell you that “I am so thankful that there have been other options to treat this horrible disease I’m battling!” The next option was back to IV form chemo, Trodelvy. Things seemed to be going well however, the chemo & bone strengthening infusion were doing their jobs. Nikki had a form of radiation that only targeted a few small tumors & should take care of said lesions. 5 treatments in total but unfortunately again the cancer markers were still fluctuating. In September 2024 after scans it was discovered that them chemo unfortunately was starting to lose its effectiveness and so it was on to the next treatment option called Doxil. This was another iv form. She had to have an EKG & a MUGA Scan done on her heart to set a baseline for her heart function. This chemo was known to cause damage to the heart in the long term so it was to be monitored regularly. After 3-4 treatments it was yet again time to switch up medications. This time it was because her cancer cells had sort of mutated & changed the type. This required a new kind of medication called Enhertu. It too was likely to cause heart damage in the long run so regular heart scans are required. So far since starting Enhertu her heart function is still managing well. Medication has been working. Fast forward to now, she is doing the same radiation again because there is only one lesion that hasn’t been responding to the treatment. So currently get it zapped right now over the course of 5 treatments.

with medical treatments and life still going I’m asking you to bless her and her family. They still have a tough road ahead and lots and lots of travel.