Life was good for Sue Grcevich.

She lived in a comfortable home in a beautiful Twin Cities-area suburb. Her drive home brought views of a mix of vast, green horse pastures, sprawling forests and small lakes, leading to a subdivision with wellkept homes. Married to husband Greg for nearly 30 years, the couple had raised two children who would soon attend college.

Sure she also was nearing the big 5-0, but Sue was proactive about her healthcare, seeing a doctor regularly to combat recurring problems with cysts in her breasts. On occasion, she needed to have some cysts drained but never anything more serious than that.

Then, as quickly as the landscape on that drive home switches from freeway to country, to beautiful homes, everything changed. In 2000, one of those checkups hinted that something was not right. The radiologist saw what looked like a mass on the mammogram. Sue sensed that something was wrong.

A follow-up checkup shortly after confirmed that she was right. The malignant mass had grown larger. Worse, it had also spread. Sue was diagnosed with lymph node positive breast cancer.

"I thought if I was proactive, it would not spread," Sue said. "You just expect that you're going to find it pinpoint."

The diagnosis was frightening for the entire Grcevich family, who had never known a cancer survivor.

However, the 49-year-old Apple Valley resident quickly made the transition from the shock of the diagnosis to focusing on the task of treatment.

First, she had surgery to remove the breast where the cancer was found. She would later also choose to have the other breast surgically removed, a difficult decision that she credits husband with making easier, "He was so supportive through all of this."

In addition to surgery, Sue began to research further treatment options, looking at books and the Internet. But it was a presentation at The Masonic Cancer Center at the University of Minnesota that helped determine her course of action.

The day of her 50th birthday, Sue attended one of The Masonic Cancer Center's community outreach and education events. There, she heard Breast Cancer Research Program leader Doug Yee, M.D., speak.

"I was so impressed that I literally followed him down the hall to talk to him," Sue said.

The conversation led to an appointment with Yee, and then enrollment in a clinical trial that Yee was conducting.

"I felt so comfortable with Dr. Yee and his staff," Sue said. "I felt that they would do what was best for the patient. I had so much support that I felt comfortable with the decision. It made sense to me."

By participating in the clinical trial, Sue first underwent chemotherapy once every three weeks for 12 weeks. After completing that round of treatment, she went once per week for another 12 weeks. By giving the doses of anticancer drugs called taxanes on a more frequent basis, Yee hoped to reduce side effects and improve outcomes for the patients, while still eradicating the cancer.

During the second round, 12 straight Fridays, Sue and Greg would make the drive to the University. Thankfully, Sue felt so well after each treatment that the two would then go out to lunch together.

"The biggest side effect was apprehension," Sue said. "I worried about what might happen, but I never got sick to the point of nausea."

Still, the chemotherapy was draining for her, especially from an emotional standpoint.

"Near the end, you start to recognize yourself as one of the other cancer patients you've been seeing in the hospital," Sue said. "I'd just put on my makeup, put on my wig, and figured I'd try to look as good as I could. Look good, feel good."

After the chemotherapy ended, Sue underwent 36 sessions of radiation therapy, administered by cancer center member Chung Lee, M.D. The last session was in January 2001.

Sue was checked by Yee every three months in the months after her treatment. Now 54, and with no signs of a recurrence, that schedule has changed to every six months. Sue feels a bond to the women she knows who have recently been diagnosed with the same cancer. "It's kind of a sisterhood — "you begin to realize how prevalent the disease is."

Her advice for these patients is simple:"I tell them how favorably I felt about the treatment I received at the University of Minnesota, but I also respect whatever they choose to do to treat it."