Mother Overcomes Triple-Positive Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Mauriel Davis decided to visit the Cleveland Clinic for a mammogram after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Mauriel had mentioned to her mom that a few months ago she had also felt a small lump, but had just ignored it.

At the urging of her mother, Mauriel visited her OB/GYN doctor at Cleveland Clinic's Beachwood Family Health and Surgery Center, who referred her to Cleveland Clinic's Breast Center after he detected what he believed to be a small cyst.

However, doctors discovered during a biopsy that Mauriel had a 7 cm mass taking up her entire right breast. Mauriel's prognosis was triple-positive, estrogen receptive. Her breast cancer was very aggressive.

"I prayed and then after that, I kind of was like you know what, I’m not going to cry about this, I’m going to do what I have to do. So I went to my doctor’s appointments; my first appointment was at my breast surgeon. And she kind of turned my world upside down because initially the radiologist didn’t tell me it was a seven centimeter mass, she just told me positive for breast cancer [sic]," Mauriel says.

After the MRI, Mauriel began swift treatment at Cleveland Clinic's main campus. First she underwent extensive chemotherapy.

"It made me feel comfortable, and it made me feel like I was going to be okay honestly. Like I had some, I had literally a team. I had a breast surgeon, I had a plastic surgeon, I had an oncologist, I had the same nurses most of the time when I went to the breast surgeon. When I went to the plastic surgeon, when I came to my oncologist I pretty much had the same nurses so I actually built a relationship with them."

"I did chemo first actually, because it was so big they thought that getting it to go away fully would be best to do chemo before surgery. So I actually did chemo before surgery. When I met my oncologist I liked her a lot, and she’s still my oncologist to this day [sic]," says Mauriel.

Mauriel's oncologist, Dr. Halle Moore from Cleveland Clinic's Taussig Cancer Institute, recommended surgery to remove what was left of the mass. She attributes the care that she received from the Cleveland Clinic cancer team as essential to her recovery.

"It made me feel comfortable, and it made me feel like I was going to be okay honestly. Like I had some, I had literally a team. I had a breast surgeon, I had a plastic surgeon, I had an oncologist, I had the same nurses most of the time when I went to the breast surgeon. When I went to the plastic surgeon, when I came to my oncologist I pretty much had the same nurses so I actually built a relationship with them [sic]," Mauriel says.

At her six month follow-up, Mauriel could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"The outcome of course, my outcome is great. When I went to my last appointment, which was my last monthly appointment, it was just like a great, a great feeling," says Mauriel.

Mauriel also started mentoring other cancer patients through Cleveland Clinic's 4th Angel program, as well as speaking to high school students. She knows how important it is to provide others with the same support she received.

"Oh it’s so important. I had great support. Even like with my two kids, people would come over and say do you need anything, do you need me to cook anything? My job was so supportive, they sent meals. It’s important, it’s really important to just be kind of open and let people in because people really do, some people are really genuine and they just want to help [sic]," says Mauriel.