We are saddened to announce the passing of Our Warrior, Sandy Cassanelli

Sandy's Story Updated Jan 2025

Sandy was initially diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at the age of 37, on May 30, 2013. She chose to have a bilateral mastectomy followed by 8 rounds of chemotherapy and 28 rounds of radiation. 

Soon after the end of radiation treatment, Sandy was declared cancer-free. 

Unfortunately, in April 2015, Sandy was no longer a breast cancer survivor.  Sandy was told that the breast cancer had spread to her liver and she was now living with Stage 4  Metastatic Breast Cancer with no cure.

After being on FDA-approved treatment for 3 years in July 2018 Sandy was told her cancer is growing and she needed to find a new treatment.  Sandy enrolled in a clinical trial that did not work in battling her cancer.  Sandy received another FDA-approved treatment beginning in October 2018. 

• In January 2020, after a scan, Sandy again discovered her meds were not working.  Sandy tried a newly FDA-approved drug.
• In September 2020 Sandy's new meds stopped working.  She was on an immunotherapy clinical trial which uses funds raised by charities like BFF, but it did not work for her. 
• November 2020 Sandy started IV Chemotherapy-which worked until April 2021
• Since April 2021, Sandy has tried 2 Oral FDA Approved treatments; neither worked for her.
• January 2022- Sandy transferred her care to Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, Connecticut, and began IV Chemotherapy which failed in March of 2022.
• Sandy began newly FDA-approved Enhertu Chemotherapy in March 2022 which was not working by June of 2022.
• In July 2022 Sandy began Phase 1 Clinical Trial at Yale Cancer Center which was effective until December 2022.
• In January 2023 Sandy began her 12th treatment, Trodelvy chemotherapy, but unfortunately, this treatments stopped working May 2023.
•  In June 2023 Sandy began her 13th treatment newly FDA approved Elacestrant which proved to be ineffective.
• In September 2023 Sandy began her 14th treatment which is a combination of Chemotherapy and Immunotherapy.
• Late November 2023, Sandy's options were limited at this point in time.  All treatments have failed, tumor markers and liver functions were very bad.  Her medical team decided to give Xeloda another try as a last resort.
• Xeloda miraculously worked through May 2024 decreasing tumor markers and improving liver functions.
• May 2024, Sandy began her 16th line of treatment with newly FDA approve Capiversib in conjunction with Fulvestrant.  This combination has dramatically decreased tumor markers and liver enzyme counts.
• January 2025-  Sandy's tumor markers and liver enzyme counts got dramatically worse in December and January, and unfortunately, breast cancer disease took Sandy's life on January 30th, 2025. 

Please keep our family in your prayers and please donate to Breast Friends Fund.  

The fight continues ....

Alfred Gilman Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology Director, Yale Cancer Center,  President of Smilow Cancer Hospital and its Network of System-wide Cancer Services.

Dr. Eric Winer is an internationally renowned expert in breast cancer and former President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology(ASCO)

Dr. Winer has led and collaborated on innumerable clinical trials that have changed the face of the disease. His work is both broad and deep, and it has touched almost all aspects of breast cancer. Dr. Winer has long been an advocate of building teams consisting of scientists and clinicians to accelerate progress in cancer research and care.

Dr. Winer is Chair of the Board for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. For over a decade, he served as chief scientific advisor and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. For the past six years he has co-led the National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Steering Committee. Dr. Winer has published over 350 original manuscripts and mentored over 30 fellows and junior faculty. In recognition of his mentoring impact, he was the recipient of the William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award from Harvard Medical School in 2020. He has also received numerous awards for his breast cancer research, most notably the William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture Award in 2016 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Dr. Winer is an alumnus of both Yale College and Yale School of Medicine. After receiving his medical degree in 1983, he completed training in internal medicine and served as chief resident at Yale New Haven Hospital. He completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Duke University School of Medicine and served on the Duke faculty from 1989 to 1997. He then joined Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School where he has spent the last 24 years. Most recently, he held the Thompson Chair in Breast Cancer Research and served as chief clinical development officer, and senior vice president for medical affairs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Education & Training:

Chief Resident-Yale School of Medicine (1987)
Intern- Yale School of Medicine (1984)
MD- Yale School of Medicine
Resident- Yale School of Medicine

Honors & Recognition:

Award Awarding Organization Date
William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award Harvard Medical School 2022
Jill Rose Award for Scientific Excellence Breast Cancer Research Foundation 2019
Susan G. Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction in Clinical Research San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2018

Departments & Organizations:

Center for Breast Cancer
Developmental Therapeutics
Internal Medicine
Medical Oncology
Subset Medical Oncology Faculty
Yale Cancer Center
Yale Medicine
​​
Additional Readings:
​Dr. Eric Winer's Unusual Journey Home
​Yale Cancer Center's New Director, Eric P. Winer, MD

1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in their lifetime.

• Metastatic Breast Cancer affects over 30% of these diagnosed women.
  
• Metastatic breast cancer accounts for approximately 42,000 death in the United States annually.
  
• Currently, only 7% of all Breast Cancer Research funding is allocated to Metastatic Breast Cancer Research.
  
• 116 women die daily from Metastatic breast cancer.
  
• The average life expectancy for those with Metastatic Breast Cancer is 3 years.
  
• Currently there is NO Cure for Metastatic Breast Cancer.
  

When breast cancer spreads to other parts of the body, such as the bones, brain, liver, or Lungs, it is called metastatic (also referred to as advanced or stage IV).

Although it is not curable, metastatic breast cancer can be treatable. Today, with new therapies, including biologic targeted treatments and novel drug combinations, women with metastatic breast cancer can live well for many years.

 *Source:  Metastatic Breast Cancer Network