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Hi family, friends and neighbors, On 1/17/22 Rasheena Phinisee, was diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer with metastasis of the nearby lymph nodes. To say the least, Sheena’s life has never been a easy. She had been kidnapped at 4 years old from her mother, molested by her father at 12 and aged out of the foster care system at 21. Sheena put herself through college and created countless opportunities for herself to succeed despite numerous setbacks.
In 2016 Sheena graduated from Temple University with a bachelor’s of arts in Communications after dropping out in 2008 following the birth of her daughter, Assiah, who was the victim of a drug induced liver failure leading to her need for two liver transplants. Through that journey, Sheena became a serial business owner establishing Assiah’s Liver Fund, a nonprofit organization that educates communities of color about organ, eye and tissue donation. In addition, Sheena published a series of children’s books about organ transplantation. These works have been featured on several networks such as FOX, ABC, KYW, The Breakfast Club and more. Sheena is also a small business owner of a permanent makeup studio in Philadelphia called the Phinisee Brow Studio which focuses on brow enhancements through micropigmentation and microblading in addition to services for scalp and areola pigmentation.
This fund is created to financially support Sheena and her 2 daughters through her cancer journey. As a single mother who is expected to undergo chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and physical rehabilitation, Sheena will require supports with things such as childcare, meal planning, transportation expenses to and from therapies, financial support with bills for her household, small businesses and much more. Due to the demands of her treatments, Sheena has decided to take a break from her work in the nonprofit and permanent makeup industry to focus on healing from cancer, so we are asking for your support through a generous donation and share.
Thank you all for your for your love and support. #SheenaStrong
Update: After 18 long months of treatments, Sheena rang the bell and completed her breast cancer treatments on June 8, 2023. Now in remission, she is focused on healing, sharing her story and engaging in charitable work to support cancer research in women of color. Stay tuned for more information about upcoming projects and please donate, comment and share to help spread the love.
Update 12/19/23: After 5 months of remission I am sad to announce that my battle with cancer continues. The cancer is now triple negative and metastasized to nearby nodes in the neck. I am sure there have been multiple factors that have lead to its return. One being my lack of response to standard chemotherapy treatments for patients with HER2 positive cancer types. In addition to life stressors like moving twice in a single year (last move 10/2023) I am working diligently to implement several lifestyle changes to reduce stress and increase overall wellness for my family. Lastly I will be implementing dietary changes in an effort to slow the growth and spread of cancer. As you all know food is expensive and the lack of access to healthly options will increase the likelihood of further complications. I will update with more details as I have them.
Update 7/10: Since I last posted things have taken an interesting turn. I enrolled in a clinical trial in February 2024 at Penn for treatment with a PDL-1 immune therapy and antibody conguate chemo and my tumors literally melted away in three weeks. By the end of March it seemed that I would be cancer free since the protocol had been so successful that the tumors in my neck were no longer palpable and so small they were unable to biopsy. The protocol sets standards for CT bone and body scans for 9 weeks intervals to follow process. However, two weeks before I was set to get scans my treatment plan was changed for evidence of neutropenia. I had absolutely no symptoms and had been gardening, building and outside the entire weeks prior in the scorching sun. Trusting the advice of my research team I began injecting growth factor stimulators at home on May 3. On May 14th had scan performed and the nodes in my neck, lungs and liver had shrank by more than a whopping 50 percent. A few days following those studies after my next infusion and round of injections I began experiencing upper left quadrant stomach pain and contacted my team. I was triaged on the oncology infusion floor and worked up for a possible pancreatitis or embolism. I was informed by my team that they found nothing but I discovered upon leaving that my wbc count had been elevated above FDA warning limits for the injections, the scan had also showed that since my last treatment only a week after my scans the lesions on my bones had progressed, (another FDA warning of false positive readings) I brought theses concerns to my oncologist noting a possible adverse reactions and was completely dismissed. I then develop a cough that has gotten progressively worse over the last two month. Fast forward, I now has what appears on a chest xray to be toxic pneumonia, a ct with progressive bone sclerosing and a so aggressive cough that I’m peeing on myself and vomiting at times. I had been kicked out of the clinical trial for what has been miss characterized a disease progression although the symptoms that have developed over the last two months and complained of are identical to 4 adverse warning identified by the FDA. They are as follows:
Increased hematopoietic activity of the bone marrow in response to growth factor therapy has been associated with transient positive bone-imaging changes; this should be considered when interpreting bone-imaging results.
Rare cases of ARDS reported; evaluate patients who develop fever and lung infiltrates or respiratory distress for ARDS; discontinue therapy in patients with ARDS
Associated with rare cases of potentially fatal splenic rupture; evaluate if patient experiences left upper abdominal and/or shoulder tip pain.
WBC counts ≥100‚000/mm³ were observed in ~2% of patients receiving filgrastim at dosages >5 mcg/kg/day
The diagnosis of disease progression has been made without and diagnostic test to confirm that cancer is in fact the culprit. I have requested a PET Scan and am awaiting a scheduled date. I had requested a PET scan on 6/4 from my regular oncologist due to a suspicion of adverse events but was denied for fear of having me thrown out of the clinical trail for information that my have contradicted the study. However, it looks like I had been right all along. As always…yours in community.
-Rasheena
Other helpful links:
https://linktr.ee/Phinisee
In 2016 Sheena graduated from Temple University with a bachelor’s of arts in Communications after dropping out in 2008 following the birth of her daughter, Assiah, who was the victim of a drug induced liver failure leading to her need for two liver transplants. Through that journey, Sheena became a serial business owner establishing Assiah’s Liver Fund, a nonprofit organization that educates communities of color about organ, eye and tissue donation. In addition, Sheena published a series of children’s books about organ transplantation. These works have been featured on several networks such as FOX, ABC, KYW, The Breakfast Club and more. Sheena is also a small business owner of a permanent makeup studio in Philadelphia called the Phinisee Brow Studio which focuses on brow enhancements through micropigmentation and microblading in addition to services for scalp and areola pigmentation.
This fund is created to financially support Sheena and her 2 daughters through her cancer journey. As a single mother who is expected to undergo chemotherapy, surgery, radiation and physical rehabilitation, Sheena will require supports with things such as childcare, meal planning, transportation expenses to and from therapies, financial support with bills for her household, small businesses and much more. Due to the demands of her treatments, Sheena has decided to take a break from her work in the nonprofit and permanent makeup industry to focus on healing from cancer, so we are asking for your support through a generous donation and share.
Thank you all for your for your love and support. #SheenaStrong
Update: After 18 long months of treatments, Sheena rang the bell and completed her breast cancer treatments on June 8, 2023. Now in remission, she is focused on healing, sharing her story and engaging in charitable work to support cancer research in women of color. Stay tuned for more information about upcoming projects and please donate, comment and share to help spread the love.
Update 12/19/23: After 5 months of remission I am sad to announce that my battle with cancer continues. The cancer is now triple negative and metastasized to nearby nodes in the neck. I am sure there have been multiple factors that have lead to its return. One being my lack of response to standard chemotherapy treatments for patients with HER2 positive cancer types. In addition to life stressors like moving twice in a single year (last move 10/2023) I am working diligently to implement several lifestyle changes to reduce stress and increase overall wellness for my family. Lastly I will be implementing dietary changes in an effort to slow the growth and spread of cancer. As you all know food is expensive and the lack of access to healthly options will increase the likelihood of further complications. I will update with more details as I have them.
Update 7/10: Since I last posted things have taken an interesting turn. I enrolled in a clinical trial in February 2024 at Penn for treatment with a PDL-1 immune therapy and antibody conguate chemo and my tumors literally melted away in three weeks. By the end of March it seemed that I would be cancer free since the protocol had been so successful that the tumors in my neck were no longer palpable and so small they were unable to biopsy. The protocol sets standards for CT bone and body scans for 9 weeks intervals to follow process. However, two weeks before I was set to get scans my treatment plan was changed for evidence of neutropenia. I had absolutely no symptoms and had been gardening, building and outside the entire weeks prior in the scorching sun. Trusting the advice of my research team I began injecting growth factor stimulators at home on May 3. On May 14th had scan performed and the nodes in my neck, lungs and liver had shrank by more than a whopping 50 percent. A few days following those studies after my next infusion and round of injections I began experiencing upper left quadrant stomach pain and contacted my team. I was triaged on the oncology infusion floor and worked up for a possible pancreatitis or embolism. I was informed by my team that they found nothing but I discovered upon leaving that my wbc count had been elevated above FDA warning limits for the injections, the scan had also showed that since my last treatment only a week after my scans the lesions on my bones had progressed, (another FDA warning of false positive readings) I brought theses concerns to my oncologist noting a possible adverse reactions and was completely dismissed. I then develop a cough that has gotten progressively worse over the last two month. Fast forward, I now has what appears on a chest xray to be toxic pneumonia, a ct with progressive bone sclerosing and a so aggressive cough that I’m peeing on myself and vomiting at times. I had been kicked out of the clinical trial for what has been miss characterized a disease progression although the symptoms that have developed over the last two months and complained of are identical to 4 adverse warning identified by the FDA. They are as follows:
Increased hematopoietic activity of the bone marrow in response to growth factor therapy has been associated with transient positive bone-imaging changes; this should be considered when interpreting bone-imaging results.
Rare cases of ARDS reported; evaluate patients who develop fever and lung infiltrates or respiratory distress for ARDS; discontinue therapy in patients with ARDS
Associated with rare cases of potentially fatal splenic rupture; evaluate if patient experiences left upper abdominal and/or shoulder tip pain.
WBC counts ≥100‚000/mm³ were observed in ~2% of patients receiving filgrastim at dosages >5 mcg/kg/day
The diagnosis of disease progression has been made without and diagnostic test to confirm that cancer is in fact the culprit. I have requested a PET Scan and am awaiting a scheduled date. I had requested a PET scan on 6/4 from my regular oncologist due to a suspicion of adverse events but was denied for fear of having me thrown out of the clinical trail for information that my have contradicted the study. However, it looks like I had been right all along. As always…yours in community.
-Rasheena
Other helpful links:
https://linktr.ee/Phinisee