Just 34, with stage 3 breast cancer, she chose ‘Team Penn’

By: Abby Alten Schwartz

In mid-January 2023, just before her 34th birthday, Kate Korson discovered a lump in her breast she described as “massive.” She immediately called her mom and said, “If this is cancer, we’re going to Penn.” Her mom, Marcy, had been treated at Penn for colorectal cancer nearly 20 years ago. 

Kate was living on a ranch in Colorado, raising birds, caring for rescued wild horses, and preparing to launch a whiskey brand that supported the cause. Everything came to a screeching halt the day of her mammogram, when the radiologist told her it looked like cancer.  

“I called Penn that day,” Kate said.  

She spoke with a nurse navigator at Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center and felt instant relief knowing someone would help coordinate each step.  

“I didn’t have to be the quarterback,” she said. 

The nurse scheduled Kate an appointment with Hayley Knollman, MD, a medical oncologist at Penn’s Rena Rowan Breast Center and Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS, chief of Breast Surgery, for early February. 

Before she left Colorado, Kate had a biopsy that confirmed her diagnosis. She had stage III triple-negative breast cancer—an aggressive cancer.  

Kate packed up her life, placed her animals with friends, and flew to Philadelphia.  

Team Penn 

For Kate, who grew up outside Philly in southern NJ, Penn represented a homecoming. Penn Medicine was more than a local institution; it was where both of her parents had received lifesaving care.  

In 2002, doctors at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center saved Kate’s dad after he nearly died from complications of ventricular tachycardia, a serious heart rhythm disorder. Four years later, her mom was diagnosed with stage IIIC colorectal cancer. She transferred to Penn Medicine to take part in a clinical trial and has remained cancer-free since.  

“Even if I lived halfway across the world, Penn is where I would have gone,” Kate said. 

As a lifelong athlete, Kate believed in the power of teamwork. She wore Penn gear to her appointments to show her dedication to “Team Penn.” In turn, she asked her caregivers to commit to “Team Kate.”  

Before meeting Drs. Knollman and Fayanju, Kate already thought of them as her dream team. But if they were to collaborate on her care, she wanted to know they respected each other’s opinions. Privately, she asked each doctor what they thought of the other.  

“And both said, ‘If my mom got breast cancer, she would be her doctor,’” Kate said.  

A personalized plan  

Kate had three tumors in her left breast, the largest around six centimeters—the size of an egg. Because of her dense breast tissue, she hadn’t felt the mass until it had reached its advanced stage. The cancer was growing unusually fast and had spread into multiple lymph nodes around her breast.  

Knollman and Fayanju said, statistically, Kate would have a better prognosis if they shrank the cancer initially with chemotherapy before removing the rest surgically.  

While Kate was eager to begin treatment as soon as possible, Knollman encouraged her to pause and consider first freezing her eggs, before they were damaged by chemotherapy.  

“She told me, ‘If there’s even a slight chance that you want to have children, you should consider harvesting your eggs,’” Kate said.  

Reproductive endocrinologist, Caitlin Martin, MD, facilitated the process right away and Kate is thankful she took that proactive measure. 

Fertility preservation is one aspect of Penn’s whole-patient approach. It’s especially valuable considering that cancer diagnoses are occurring with greater frequency in younger adults.  

Kate’s team also connected her with a psychiatrist to help her cope with the mental and emotional challenges she was facing. The behavioral health experts who are part of Penn’s cancer program are specially trained to address the unique issues patients confront after a cancer diagnosis. Kate still sees her psychiatrist, Esha Khurana, MD, MPH, today. 

A game-changing clinical trial  

Because of her mom’s positive experience with a clinical trial, Kate was “gung-ho from day one” about participating in one herself. Her thought was, “If I’m gonna go through this, I’m gonna help as many people as I can,” she said. Kate told her team, “Study me.”  

Clinical trials appealed to Kate for additional reasons. They gave her access to advanced treatments not yet widely available, that allowed for more personalized treatment and closer monitoring throughout her care. She would receive ongoing testing to determine whether her treatment was working. 

Kate didn’t have to convince her oncologist, who already had one study in mind called I-SPY. The treatment started with another biopsy—this with more extensive tumor testing than the one she had leading to her diagnosis. By analyzing her tumor, Kate’s doctors could predict which treatment Kate was most likely to respond to—in other words, a more personalized systemic therapy approach to treating her breast cancer. 

Triple-negative breast cancer is historically challenging to treat because it lacks the three receptors (proteins) drug therapies commonly target. The standard of care is months of hard-hitting chemotherapy and immunotherapy with five different drugs, with the hope that the cancer responds to one. 

Kate’s biopsy revealed a DNA repair deficiency her doctors could precisely target with an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). An ADC combines a monoclonal antibody with a chemotherapy drug and, because it’s delivered directly to cancer cells, is generally less toxic than traditional chemotherapy.  

“I was very lucky because the trial had identified this new biomarker for breast cancer,” Kate said. 

The treatment worked in a fraction of the time, allowing Kate to proceed to surgery after just four infusions, because imaging showed Kate’s tumor had resolved. Fayanju performed a nipple-sparing double mastectomy to remove all cancer, then Jessica Fayne Rose, DO, her plastic surgeon, reconstructed Kate’s breasts with natural-looking implants. Typically, surgeons place temporary implants (expanders) first, but Kate was able to have everything done in a single operation.  

Plastic surgeons at Penn’s RESTORE: Center for Advanced Breast Reconstruction are among the best and most experienced in the nation and offer a full range of advanced surgical options to meet each patient’s needs. Breast reconstruction after mastectomy can help patients feel more like themselves again, physically and mentally.  

Kate’s treatment continued with 38 doses of radiation therapy from August to October 2023. 

In the midst of these treatments, Kate traveled to New York City with Fayanju and Knollman and, to her surprise, had an emotional reunion with her extended family and friends, during a powerful moment on Good Morning America. She had gone to advocate for the importance of being proactive with breast cancer and the value of clinical trials, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

After finishing her radiation therapy that fall, Kate began taking a chemotherapy pill for the next six months to prevent recurrence. She completed the full course of treatment on May 1, 2024. 

Team Kate 

From the moment Kate showed up at her first appointment wearing a Penn sweatshirt to symbolize she was on “Team Penn,” every one of her caregivers let her know they were on “Team Kate.” 

Though she presents herself as a strong, stoic person, Kate isn’t afraid to reveal her vulnerability. She shared that there were many moments throughout her experience when she broke down in tears or felt overcome by fear.  

“At every single point, someone was there to catch me—even when I least expected it,” she said.  

Kate thinks of her time at Penn Medicine as a series of meaningful interactions—from the phlebotomists who drew her blood each week, to her clinical trial nurse, to the ambassador hospital concierge, Monroe Melchor, who greeted her warmly on the morning of her surgery, saying, “Are you Kate? I’ve been waiting for you.” 

“It’s those moments painted together in this beautiful portrait that is my patient experience at Penn,” she said. “I feel at home here.”