We are fortunate, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, to have access to some of the most brilliant minds and research centers in the world. This week, I was lucky to be able to meet with Dr. Frank Stockdale, co-founder of Stanford University’s Combined Modalities Breast Cancer Program in Palo Alto, Calif.

The time spent with Dr. Stockdale, whose focus has been on breast cancer for the past forty-two years, answered many questions, raised even more, and went by much too quickly. I would’ve loved to have spent some time asking why, for example, the incidence of this cancer is high in some parts of the country and not in others. Much of what we discussed had to do with my particular case. But there were some items of broader interest.

I asked why breast cancer comes. Dr. Stockdale said, “Most, eighty-five percent, are sporadic. There is no reason.” This much researchers do know: The mammary glands are stimulated to grow with the estrogen (menstrual) cycle. After the cycle, the glands regress. After so many cycles of growth and regression, little errors in the DNA can creep in. These errors are replicated each time the glandular cells grow and shrink back. The end result can be cancer—the more cycles, the more years of growth and regression, and the higher the chance for errors to creep into the DNA.

I wondered whether birth control pills could cause breast cancer. Doctor Stockdale said there is no evidence to suggest they have an effect on breast cancer. He said, “They do probably prevent cancer of the ovary.”

Can a breast cancer patient ever really be cured, I wanted to know, or is there always a chance it will return? His answer was, “There’s always a chance it will come back. But you markedly reduce those chances by taking treatment now. If you look at the national data on deaths from breast cancer, since about 1985 they’ve been going way down. The only real explanation for that is adjuvant treatment because the disease is the same disease.”*

“I think you’re going to be cured,” he told me. “Your chances are approximately between eighty-five and ninety percent. That’s pretty good for a serious disease.”

Thank you, Dr. Stockdale. I’m glad for the opportunity to meet with you.


*Adjuvant therapy usually refers to hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or immunotherapy added after surgery to increase the chances of curing the disease or minimizing symptoms. Source: www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/peds_oncology/glossary.cfm