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How Heart Screenings Keep Survivors Healthy: Bryn's Story
Bryn, an osteosarcoma survivor, is now a medical student.
As a young cancer patient, Bryn Anteau had a rule for her care team at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Michigan. She would not answer their questions unless they first ate a cheese ball—the crunchy snack that turns your fingers orange.
The outgoing 8-year-old liked having fun with her care providers. But she also listened to their advice over the years. That included getting regular echocardiograms (echo) to check for early signs of heart damage. An echo test is a heart ultrasound. It uses sound waves to create moving images of the heart to show how well the heart works.
Why heart screenings are important
Part of Bryn’s treatment for the bone cancer osteosarcoma included a chemotherapy drug that can lead to heart damage over time. Because of this, Bryn’s care team recommended that she have regular echo tests. About 10 years after her diagnosis, an echo test showed that her heart was not pumping blood as well as it should.
The measurement is called an ejection fraction. It is the percentage of blood pumped out of your heart with each heartbeat. Bryn’s ejection fraction was 44%. A normal ejection fraction is 50–70%. Bryn had not had any symptoms of heart problems.
“I was going about my normal day, and it showed up on my scan,” Bryn says. “My care team explained that catching these problems early is why we do these echo tests. It’s definitely better to catch things early rather than later.”
How medicines can help protect the heart
Daily pill organizers can help you remember to take needed medicines each day.
To help her heart, Bryn’s care team recommended she start taking a drug called lisinopril. It helps blood flow more easily by relaxing blood vessels. This takes some of the strain off the heart, which can help when the heart cannot pump enough blood. Bryn takes a pill once a day. It is possible she may have to do this for the rest of her life.
“Aside from when I had cancer, I had never been on any medications,” Bryn says. “And I am a pretty type B (laid-back) person. So, the fact that I had to remember something every day was kind of daunting.”
To help her remember to take her medicine, Bryn uses a daily pill organizer and keeps it on her kitchen counter, so she sees it every day.
Her next echo test showed that her ejection fraction had increased by about 10%, back into the normal range.
A downside of lisinopril is that she cannot take it if she plans to become pregnant. When that time comes, she will have to talk with her care team about other medicines.
“What scares me is that I don't know what would happen if I started a different medication,” Bryn says. “So that's a little unnerving.”
Why follow-up care matters for childhood cancer survivors
Keeping up with her health and follow-up visits can be challenging. But it is a high priority for Bryn.
“There’s so much of life I haven't lived yet and haven't gotten to experience,” Bryn says. “If you let these things go and they get worse, then they might be harder to treat. If a test takes an hour out of your day every few months, it is worth it to make sure that you are doing well. Your care providers cannot help you unless you help yourself first.”
Bryn is now 25 and in her third year of medical school. She looks forward to the future.
“Hospital and illness are things I am quite familiar with,” Bryn says. “One thing led to another, and here I am. In high school, I liked learning about science. I think being a doctor would be awesome. I have well-rounded knowledge of disease and how to treat patients. I want to be at the forefront of that.”