The Power of Long-Range Hope and Courage 

While participating in a clinical trial, Kathleen McEvoy-Schufreider, a 60-year-old communications executive living in Haverhill, Mass., traveled to Dana-Farber for scans every twelve weeks to monitor her cancer. In between appointments, it was hard to put the scans out of her mind. 

“I was living in twelve-week bursts,” says McEvoy-Schufreider, who was diagnosed with early-stage human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2)-positive, hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer in 2011 and then metastatic disease in 2018.  

Her mindset shifted when she heard talks by long term survivors of metastatic breast cancer. One presenter had been living with the disease for 20 years.  

“I started to see life in a new way,” says McEvoy-Schufreider. “It wasn’t that I could forget about the cancer, but I could put it into perspective. There’s long range hope for me.” 

According to McEvoy-Schufreider’s oncologist Nancy Lin, MD, MPH, such hope would have been rare not long ago. But today, many new and highly effective therapies are available, the products of decades of scientific research and clinical trials, including two trials McEvoy-Schufreider participated in at Dana-Farber. 

“I saw the pace of progress firsthand,” says McEvoy-Schufreider. “When you have an ecosystem that is really dedicated to this kind of science, you can move mountains.” 

A test of endurance 

When McEvoy-Schufreider was first diagnosed, Lin recommended a trial that aimed to learn more about whether a new regimen could enable some patients to safely skip a particularly difficult form of chemotherapy called the AC regimen (Adriamycin and cyclophosphamide). McEvoy-Schufreider understood what the trial offered and decided to sign on.  

After 16 weeks of paclitaxel chemotherapy plus trastuzumab, McEvoy-Schufreider’s tumor had not vanished. Per the trial protocol, she went on to receive four doses of treatment with AC after surgery, plus radiation, and then tamoxifen for five years to reduce the risk of recurrence.  

Throughout her treatment, McEvoy-Schufreider maintained a positive attitude. She spent time during infusions planning trips with her husband, sharing laughs, tips, and trends with her oncology nurse, Jennifer Lowell, RN, BSN, and maintaining as normal a work schedule as possible as a vice president of communication for a private company.  

“Kathleen made this journey bearable by sharing it with others,” says Lowell, who retired in February of 2025. “I think it helps people open to the idea of living with this disease.” 

At home, she was also raising two daughters and was into boxing for exercise. 

“I absolutely loved boxing,” she says. “I remember feeling completely spent but kept going back for more because the more you do it, the stronger you get.” 

The pace of research 

Shortly after McEvoy-Schufreider completed her five years of tamoxifen, she started feeling pain in her ribs. By early 2018, she discovered that her cancer was back, and that it had invaded her liver and bones. 

One of the first people she reached out to beyond her family was Lowell, who got back to her immediately: “I will take care of you.” 

“Having that relationship, having that reassurance was so important,” says McEvoy-Schufreider. “It’s very emotional even now.”  

The treatment this time was longer, 26 weeks of paclitaxel and trastuzumab, plus a new drug, pertuzumab, that also targets HER2. 

“One of the most fascinating things to me was the pace of research,” says McEvoy-Schufreider. “In those years since my first diagnosis, there was already a new drug available.” 

Another trial, and another new medicine 

After that treatment, Lin wanted to find a maintenance option for McEvoy-Schufreider that would delay the need for more chemotherapy. She suggested a trial called PATINA that was testing an emerging form of therapy, a CDK4/6 inhibitor, plus hormone therapy along with trastuzumab. The science behind the CDK4/6 inhibitor had come out of Dana-Farber research laboratories and had shown its potential to help patients with breast cancer.  

McEvoy-Schufreider agreed and continued to come to Dana-Farber for treatments. She also came in every twelve weeks for scans. It was during this time that she adjusted her mindset to see beyond the scans. 

“I never saw Kathleen lose hope,” says Lowell. “She and her family and friends love to laugh.”  

Counseling herself to have courage 

In 2022, McEvoy-Schufreider had to stop participating in the PATINA trial because she discovered she had early-stage endometrial cancer. Under the care of gynecologic oncologist Joyce Liu, MD, MPH, she began another regimen of chemotherapy, surgery, and a form of radiation therapy called brachytherapy.  

Through treatment after treatment, McEvoy-Schufreider counseled herself to have courage the same way she counseled her growing daughters as they faced important life decisions. 

“What do I want to do? I want to survive this. What do I have to do? I need to commit myself to treatment,” she says. “It’s like getting on a train. If you just commit to getting on the train, and going through every stop, you will look back and be amazed at how far you’ve come.” 

After she completed treatment, she was not able to rejoin the PATINA trial, but a team of experts at Dana-Farber including Lin helped her get back on the trial drugs with insurance coverage. The first results of that trial, reported in December 2024, revealed that patients who received the combination of HER2-targeted treatment, hormonal therapy, and a CDK4/6 inhibitor experienced significantly longer control of their cancer. 

During this same year, McEvoy-Schufreider also fulfilled a long-time goal of paddleboarding. She had planned to go during a family trip in 2018 but was in too much pain to consider it. When the opportunity arose again, she and her youngest daughter spent four hours paddling, falling, resting, and enjoying a beautiful day on the water in Connecticut.  

“I just kept paddling,” she says. “Paddleboarding became a metaphor for learning to keep moving forward.” 

These days, she visits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Chestnut Hill every three weeks for infusions and maintains her long-range outlook and enthusiasm for the current moment. She’s learned that the key isn’t just learning to live with cancer.  

It is, she says, “about learning not to make room for bitterness.”