A mother who has been diagnosed with breast cancer four times, with the final diagnosis confirming it had spread and is incurable, is campaigning for a drug that could give “the hope of more life” and extra time to make memories with her three-year-old daughter.
Hannah Gardner, 37, a former clinical trial manager who lives in Twickenham, was given her primary breast cancer diagnosis in 2013 after discovering a large lump in her left breast. After undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, the cancer returned twice more – once in 2017 in her chest wall and again in 2020 in her underarm.
Two years later, in June 2022, Hannah, who has a three-year-old daughter called Lilah Rae, was given the news she has stage 4 incurable breast cancer. Now, Hannah is campaigning for a targeted therapy drug to be approved for use on the NHS in England to give her more time.
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“With the primary diagnosis, it brought that mortality into the now, but with the stage 4 diagnosis, it literally felt like it was standing over me,” Hannah told PA Real Life. “This is going to end my life in the near-enough future.”
According to the charity Breast Cancer Now, trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) is already recommended for use within the Cancer Drugs Fund for certain patients with HER2-positive secondary breast cancer. But it is now the first treatment licensed for HER2-low secondary breast cancer, the type of cancer Hannah has.
Hannah has been having various treatments over the years and had hoped Enhertu would be approved for use on the NHS in England but it was provisionally rejected in September 2023. It was approved for use on the NHS in Scotland for eligible patients in December 2023 and Hannah now faces an agonising wait to see if she will get access to the treatment in time.
Hannah wants to raise awareness of the importance of Enhertu for patients like her, as the thought of leaving her daughter without a mother “breaks (her) heart”. “There’s no curing my cancer, there’s just trying to slow the spread and give me as much life as possible,” Hannah said.
“But it is going to kill me, and when that happens, there’s going to be a little girl left without a mum and that’s going to impact her for the rest of her life. This is why this drug, it’s so important, because it’s giving us the hope of more life, more time to make memories, more time to enjoy with our families.
“I don’t want to miss out on one more kiss, one more hug, one more giggle, one more ‘first’ than I need to.”
Hannah was first diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2013, aged 26, after discovering a “massive, unmistakable lump” in her left breast. After a GP appointment and a referral to Charing Cross Hospital, where she had further tests and scans, it was revealed the tumour was almost 10cm long and it was cancerous.
“I was overwhelmed and in a state of shock for a long time, so I just found myself getting through each day almost,” Hannah explained. “It was traumatic… I don’t know how I got through, I don’t know how I felt, I think I literally just went into autopilot.”
Hannah underwent chemotherapy, wearing a cold cap during treatment to minimise hair loss, hormone therapy, lymph node clearance, and a double mastectomy to remove both breasts. She experienced side effects of fatigue, nausea, and peripheral neuropathy – numbness and tingling in the feet or hands – and later had breast reconstruction surgery.
While Hannah did not process the impact of the treatments until much later, she said losing her breasts was “difficult to come to terms with”. However, she has since realised that “femininity isn’t boobs and hair, it’s an energy”.
Hannah then discovered another lump above her left breast implant in 2017. She had continued to check her breasts in the years following her primary diagnosis – something she is urging others to do – and tests revealed it was another cancerous lump.
She had chemotherapy to treat the 2.5cm tumour, this time at the Royal Marsden Hospital, and ended up having her left breast removed but did not have reconstruction surgery. Hannah said: “The second time round, yes, it was hard to process losing the breast completely, but I started worrying beyond that.
“Since the cancer had come back, I was frightened about what this meant long-term.”
Hannah said she was “rocked” and “unnerved” by the second diagnosis, as she was concerned the cancer cells had remained dormant and undetectable for years. After getting engaged to her now-husband Peter, 37, a firefighter, the pair decided to get married in Las Vegas on April 15 2018, just the two of them.
Hannah then gave birth to her “beautiful little girl”, Lilah Rae, in July 2020, who she described as her “ray of sunshine”, and decided to have a check-up following the pregnancy. Just before the scan, she started experiencing a “deep throbbing pain” in her left underarm, and a scan in December that year revealed the cancer had returned for a third time.
Another 2.5cm cancerous tumour was found, leaving Hannah feeling “completely blindsided,” and this led to surgery, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy. In June 2021, during a scan, it appeared Hannah had a tumour in her liver – but a biopsy was taken to test it, she had ablation to remove it, and the results came back clear.
Hannah said she thought “miracles do happen, and for once it’s me who is getting this news that it’s not cancer”. However, one year later in June 2022, two tumours were found in her liver and Hannah was given the news she has stage 4 incurable breast cancer.
She said: “I’d been trying to outrun a stage 4 diagnosis for nine years and it had finally caught up with me, but the second line of thinking was, I’ve got an 18-month-old daughter. When you think about death, it’s something you take for granted, you think it’s going to happen some time in the future, and what cancer does is, it brings it into the now.”
At the time of her stage 4 diagnosis, Hannah was told she would have to be on treatment for the rest of her life to keep her stable. She was part of a medical trial Serena-1 to stabilise her cancer, but in November 2023 she received the news her cancer had progressed and she was no longer able to stay on the trial.
Hannah had hoped that the targeted therapy drug Enhertu would be approved to give her another treatment option, however more than three months after the provisional rejection by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), there remains no final decision for NHS England. This is devastating for Hannah, as she said “delays cost lives”, and she is facing an agonising wait to find out if she will get access to the treatment in time.
Hannah wants to raise more awareness of breast cancer and encourage others to be “breast and body aware”, and she hopes Enhertu will be approved for use on the NHS in England before it is too late. “Since that first diagnosis, I have been diagnosed three more times. I have literally been told ‘you have cancer’ four separate times,” Hannah said.
“But the last one, of course, was the most difficult. I was diagnosed with stage 4 incurable breast cancer. If my current treatment stops working before Enhertu is approved, I’ll be left wondering if a move to Scotland could extend my life.”
Hannah’s friend and Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha added: “My dear, dear friend Hannah has been up against breast cancer for over a decade, she and so many others don’t deserve this further anguish. Enhertu could make such a difference to so many people living with incurable, secondary breast cancer.
“Women like Hannah shouldn’t have to fight for access to a drug, waiting in limbo, fearing all along that their cancer could be progressing. Hannah deserves time to see her daughter grow, to be there for her important milestones. Knowing this treatment exists but is out of reach, in my opinion seems incredibly cruel.
“I want to beg NHS England and the drug company Daiichi Sankyo, to please do everything they can to make a deal on Enhertu, and do it as soon as possible, so that women like my incredible friend Hannah can have hope for the future.”
Rob Kettell, NHS England’s director of medicines negotiations, said: “I hope that Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca listen to individuals like Hannah and offer this treatment to the health service at a fair price, so that NHS staff who are dedicated to their patients can provide this drug to Hannah and many more women.”
Breast Cancer Now is continuing to campaign on behalf of women living with HER2-low secondary breast cancer for access to Enhertu while commercial discussions take place. For information and support, visit: breastcancernow.org
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
