At age 27, Dorthilen Haynes was shocked to learn she had aggressive triple negative breast cancer. But just before treatment was to begin, she would have another shock: she was four weeks pregnant.
In June 2019, she felt a hard, movable lump in her breast. Her primary care doctor ordered diagnostic imaging, and after a biopsy, he referred her to the breast cancer team at Henry Ford Cancer Institute.
As a foster care caseworker, Haynes was accustomed to making important decisions and recommendations to judges. Similarly, Haynes knew she needed time to process information.
“I wanted to wait and cry,” said Haynes, a married mother with a then 3-year-old daughter. “But my mom said, ‘You don’t have time for a pity party.’”
At Henry Ford, her breast cancer team quickly coordinated a treatment plan. Her nurse navigator scheduled all of her appointments, including a meeting with a fertility preservation specialist to freeze Haynes’s eggs so she had the option of conceiving again in the future
After a preliminary urine test, the fertility expert said, “We can’t freeze your eggs. You’re already pregnant.”
Turning to her husband who had been talking with their daughter, she asked him, “Did you hear that? She says I’m pregnant!”
“We were so shocked, we couldn’t believe it,” Haynes said.
The pregnancy required a quick course correction for her treatment plan, said Dr. Jessica Bensenhaver, the surgeon who heads Henry Ford’s breast cancer program.
“Because the tumor was large and because she was pregnant -- during which time patients can’t receive radiation -- a lumpectomy was not an option,” Bensenhaver said. “Normally, chemotherapy can melt this type of tumor, but tumor-shrinking chemotherapy is not recommended in the first trimester of pregnancy. Surgery was the only option to initiate treatment, so we first performed a mastectomy.”
Although the cancer had been rapidly growing, surgery revealed the disease had not spread into the lymph nodes that had been checked during the mastectomy.
“Dr. Bensenhaver and the team were great,” Haynes said. “We had a connection and personal interaction. She made me feel comfortable.”
Chemotherapy was next for Haynes, who was the first person in her family identified with the BRCA gene.
At Henry Ford’s chemotherapy class, nurses advised Haynes about the side effects and offered a cool cap to save her hair. With the cool cap worn during chemotherapy, there was a 20% chance she would keep hair.
“As an African American woman, I have thicker hair and hoped that would help prevent hair loss,” said Haynes.
She did in fact keep her hair.
In spring 2020, Haynes gave birth to what her family refers to as a healthy, “miracle baby.”
“He’s wonderful,” she said of her son.
One month later, she began another round of chemotherapy for 12 weeks.
“My husband Johnny has shown me what true love means,” Haynes said. “You expect illness when you’re older, but this happened in our 20s. I’m so grateful to have him. He makes me feel beautiful.”
Haynes and her husband are a team at home and on the basketball court. Together, they’ve coached the sport at Melvindale High School and Strong Middle School.
“I’ve had my family to help and motivate me,” Haynes said. “My mom is my superhero and best friend.”
Haynes’ mother relocated from Missouri to Michigan two weeks after the diagnosis.
“I used to act like I was invincible,” Haynes said. “But cancer can get anyone -- your age or race doesn’t matter. Go to the doctor, pay attention and ask questions. Get a mammogram.”