Nikki’s Story

I’m alive because of Penn Highlands Healthcare.

Nikki Williams was not even 30-years old yet when her world changed. When she was age 24, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and she tested positive for the breast cancer gene. In the years that followed, the Donora resident was diligent about checking her breasts; and, at age 28, she found a lump in her right breast that seemed to appear overnight. Because Nikki was very committed to personal fitness, she thought it was a workout-related injury.

“The lump hurt. It was an unusual feeling,” Nikki explained. “When I moved my arm, I could feel it pulling. It was painful but not unbearable. It mainly hurt when I was doing my upper-body workout.”

During that time, she became pregnant and refrained from lifting due to the lump.

“Dr. Natalie Furgiuele was my mother’s breast surgeon so I reached out to her,” Nikki said. “During my first visit with Dr. Furgiuele, you wouldn’t believe the look on her face.”

Since Nikki was 20 weeks pregnant, the only testing that Dr. Furgiuele ordered was a breast ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed a cyst on top of a golf-ball-size tumor.

“It was as if the golf ball was covered with Play Doh,” Nikki said.

A biopsy was immediately done and Nikki had breast surgery on October 2, 2020, the day after her gender reveal party where she announced, “It’s a boy! And, by the way, I have breast cancer. I’m having surgery tomorrow.”

She was having a right mastectomy because Dr. Furgiuele agreed to leave the left breast in case Nikki wanted to breast feed the baby. Her cancer was Stage 2 due to the size of the tumor. However, it was considered Triple negative. It never spread anywhere else.

“Dr. Furgiuele told me that this was considered ‘the angriest type of cancer.’”

Following the surgery, she began chemotherapy. Through careful consultations, her oncology team at the Hahne Cancer Center at Penn Highlands Mon Valley treated her with two different chemo drugs that only had a 4% chance of penetrating the placenta.

Nikki had four chemotherapy treatments every three weeks and needed IV iron. Her pregnancy was closely monitored by her obstetrician.

She completed her first round of chemotherapy when she was 35 weeks pregnant. Nikki went into labor during the 37^th week of her pregnancy. Her son, Asher, was born on January 21, 2021 at 12:18 PM. Two weeks following Asher’s birth, she resumed her chemotherapy.

Upon completion of her chemotherapy, she was going to wait a month to begin her radiation, but pre-cancer cells were found in her left breast which led to a total mastectomy.

Asher is now 4-years-old and both he and his mother are healthy and enjoying life.

“Penn Highlands Mon Valley has the best doctors working for patient care,” the happy mother said. “The entire staff is incredible. They see you as a person during a very scary time!”