UAMS Employee Overcomes Breast Cancer, Highlights Importance of Yearly Mammograms
| Treneica McKnight’s breast cancer journey began in February 2024 with a nagging thought about the mammograms she had missed.
“I had skipped getting a mammogram for two years straight,” said McKnight, department finance administrator in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Nursing. “But at this point, something inside me kept saying, ‘You need to get your mammogram.’”
She scheduled a screening at UAMS, and the initial images revealed an abnormality. McKnight returned for another scan, and when those images showed the same results, she was asked to undergo a biopsy.
“I wasn’t really feeling alarmed because I’ve had abnormal mammograms before, but it never turned out to be cancer,” she said.
This time, however, she received a diagnosis of Stage 1 invasive lobular carcinoma, a form of cancer found in the milk-producing glands of the breasts.
“I was just shocked,” she said. “But it still hadn’t fully hit me. It was like I heard the news, but I didn’t really hear it.”
McKnight entrusted her care to physicians at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. She met with Ronda Henry-Tillman, M.D., a surgical oncologist and chief of the Breast Surgical Oncology Division, and Sri Obulareddy, M.D., a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer, to form a plan for her treatment.
McKnight began chemotherapy on April 19, 2024, and continued nearly every Friday for about six months. She said Obulareddy went to great lengths to provide the best possible care, including consulting with other experts to ensure McKnight was receiving the right regimen for her condition.
“From that point forward, I knew I was in good hands,” she said.
McKnight said she endured that period by relying on her faith and her family. Her mother accompanied her to almost all the chemotherapy sessions, and her sister served as a “personal nurse,” McKnight said. Her adult daughter moved in with her to provide additional care, and her 17-year-old son was there to help as well.
Treneica McKnight was surrounded by friends and family members on Oct. 4, 2024, the day she rang the bell to signify the end of her chemotherapy treatment.Photo provided by Treneica McKnight
When she rang the bell on Oct. 4, 2024, to signify the end of her chemotherapy treatment, she was joined by more than a dozen friends and family members, some of whom had flown in from Texas and Indiana to offer their support.
“That support is what kept me going,” she said.
Genetic testing showed that breast cancer is hereditary on her father’s side of the family, McKnight said, including an aunt who had a lumpectomy in one breast but experienced a recurrence of her cancer years later. After completing chemotherapy and consulting with Henry-Tillman, McKnight made the decision to undergo a double mastectomy in November 2024.
She said the choice was a difficult one.
“Sometimes it does bother me when I look in the mirror,” she said. “I kind of second-guess myself, but then I have to come back and remember that I did do the right thing for my health.”
The next step in her journey began earlier this year, when she underwent a round of immunotherapy treatments to rebuild her immune system after the chemotherapy as well as to fight off any cancer cells that remained in her body. She began the immunotherapy in February and concluded it in August.
Last month, McKnight received the good news she had been waiting nearly 20 months to hear: Her latest scans showed no signs of cancer in her body. On Oct. 24, she had a procedure to remove the port in the left side of her chest that was used to administer her chemotherapy.
McKnight said her focus has started to shift toward getting her life back on track. The hair she lost during chemotherapy has begun to grow back, but she continues to struggle with neuropathy, a nerve condition that causes tingling or numbness in her fingers and feet.
“Doctors say that chemo affects your entire body, and it really does affect everything,” she said. “They told me it could take a year or more to get everything out of my body and to get back to feeling normal.”
McKnight praised the team members who cared for her at the Cancer Institute, including the nurses who helped her get through treatments and blood tests despite her intense fear of needles. She said many people provided her with comfort during times when she felt fear or uncertainty.
“One day, I was meeting with Dr. Henry-Tillman, and I was crying like a baby,” McKnight said. “And she told me: ‘It’s OK to cry. But you’re going to get through this, and we’re going to get through it with you.’”
“I would tell anybody that the people at UAMS are top-notch and that they truly care about your well-being,” McKnight said.
McKnight said she was fortunate that her cancer was found at an early stage, and she encourages women to never miss their annual exam.
“Just get your mammograms every year,” she said. “I never thought I would be somebody who would have cancer, but it can happen to anyone.”