Janet Tinney was no stranger to the phone calls.
Over the years, due to very dense breast tissue, Tinney has had many calls asking her to return for further testing following a mammogram.
Financial miracle
Janet Tinney is now praying for a financial miracle so that cancer research can continue to evolve at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center for many years to come. From today through April 19, Tinney’s family is hosting an online fundraiser, with 100 percent of the proceeds going towards cancer research at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. To make a donation, click here.
“I’ve even had a couple biopsies and other procedures,” said Tinney, who is a North Platte, Neb. resident. “Fortunately, each time the extra tests were performed, I received a phone call with good news that everything was benign. Until September of 2015. That’s the year I received a phone call informing me I had breast cancer.”
For the first few minutes, Tinney was stunned and speechless. Then the tears came. Her father passed away due to cancer. She spent nearly two years going to appointments and treatments, waiting through every surgery.
“Even though the experience with my dad was unpleasant in the end, I knew I had been given the knowledge and strength to deal with my own cancer battle,” Tinney said.
The day she was diagnosed, Tinney went to a local surgeon in North Platte. Shortly after, she was referred to Nebraska Medicine surgical oncologist Edibaldo Silva-Lopez, M.D., Ph.D.
“During the first visit with Dr. Silva, I barely let him speak before peppering him with questions about my future. Did I need to get my things in order? If so, how long did I have? He looked me straight in the face and said, ‘That is not even a concern for you.’ He was certain I would survive,” Tinney said.
Dr. Silva’s recommended treatment plan was newly approved, but research showed the results were very positive. After two rounds of chemotherapy, Tinney was in for quite a surprise. During an ultrasound of her breast, the tumor was nowhere to be found.
“My radiologist was completely shocked.”
Tinney completed two more rounds of chemo, followed by a regimen of drugs. In January, Dr. Silva performed surgery, removing a margin of tissue where the tumor once was, along with 17 lymph nodes. About a week later, Tinney received a phone call telling her all the tests were negative for the cancer.
“The treatment plan Dr. Silva gave me worked,” Tinney said. “When this journey began, my husband and I both prayed for a miracle. That miracle was not for the cancer to just go away, but for me to be directed to the right physicians with the knowledge to cure my disease.”