Your whole life can change in a day. For 28-year-old Vina Mohabir, that’s all the time it took to be tested for and diagnosed with cancer.
“Everything happened so fast”, Vina recalls. After seeking treatment for a bleeding nipple, she was immediately referred to the Gattuso Rapid Diagnostic Clinic at The Princess Margaret, which helps people find out if they have breast cancer quickly.
There, Vina received an ultrasound, mammogram, biopsy, and preliminary diagnosis all on the same day. Suddenly, instead of preparing to start grad school, she was preparing to start cancer treatment.
Vina quickly began a 16-week course of chemotherapy, coming into the Cancer Centre every two weeks. About a month after she finished, she underwent the last part of her treatment: surgery. “I had a double mastectomy and then my lymph node dissection,” says Vina.
In just 10 months—less than a school year—Vina overcame cancer. She praises her care team for not only acting so quickly but for providing her with personalized cancer treatment. Even today, Vina continues to receive a targeted treatment specific to the type of breast cancer she had.
“It’s really cool that they’re able to target my hormone receptors and shut those down to prevent any cancer from coming back,” she said. “Now, I can hopefully stay in remission for the rest of my life.”
For Vina, it’s been a surreal experience to be treated at the Cancer Centre after her family have been long-time supporters of Princess Margaret Home Lottery. “I had no idea that later on, that money would go on to help fund the kind of research that saved my life,” she said. “We are closer than ever to finding cures for different kinds of cancer and The Princess Margaret is where those innovations are happening.”