Jen Pogue was a young, vibrant actor and producer busy developing her debut television series, when she found a lump on her breast. Or as Jen likes to call it, “the tiny lump that ruined everything.”
That lump was the only symptom of stage 4, triple-negative breast cancer — a rare and aggressive
form with limited treatment options. By the time she was diagnosed, just four days after Bell greenlit her show, the cancer had already spread to her lungs and sternum. She was filled with fear and uncertainty. “Only 6-10% of patients are diagnosed at stage 4,” she said. “The life expectancy is only two to five years.”
Luckily, she was referred to The Princess Margaret, where she met her oncologist, Dr. Eitan Amir. He proposed a new clinical trial and gave Jen hope. “I needed someone to tell me that there was a chance,” she said. And although there were no guarantees, Jen decided to proceed. “This was my only shot.”
The trial involved a unique combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy — a treatment that uses a person’s own immune system to fight cancer. After just one treatment, Jen’s tumour had shrunk by 50%. Within six months, her scans were clean, the lesions on her spine were benign and her lung lesions had dissolved. After months of preparing for the worst, Jen and her family could finally take a breath; she was going to survive.
Nearly 50 treatment cycles and two years later, Dr. Amir believes the immunotherapy has taught Jen’s
body to fight the cancer on its own. She has stopped all treatments and is back to living and producing her now award-winning show, “County Blooms”.
Clinical trials, like the one that saved Jen, would not be possible without fundraising programs like Princess Margaret Home Lottery. Every ticket can keep hope alive for more cancer patients.