Mom with Staten Island ties diagnosed with breast cancer at 33 while young daughter battles health issues

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – A 33-year-old mother of two was recently diagnosed with breast cancer while her 3-year-old daughter battles a rare form of epilepsy — leaving her husband, a former Staten Islander, overwhelmed by mounting medical bills.

“I’m very healthy. I exercise. I eat healthy. I’m not like this hardcore drinker. It happened to me,” Kim LaRosa said.

Kim, who lives in New Jersey with her husband Vincent LaRosa, a Rossville native, and their two daughters, Lily and Valentina, was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer on Oct. 3, after undergoing her first round of testing.

“I noticed a lump on my nipple when I was going to shower one day,” Kim said. “I went to my OBGYN, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s a cyst,’ but he sent me for imaging.”

After her first-ever mammogram and ultrasound, both suggested benign fibroadenoma. However, the doctor at the imaging center recommended a biopsy to be certain, which Kim underwent a week later.

“The next day the results came in my portal in bright red lettering: Triple Negative Invasive Ductal Carcinoma,” Kim recalled. “My heart just sunk. I’m 33 and it doesn’t run in my family.”

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) refers to the fact that the cancer cells lack estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors, making it “negative” on all three tests. It accounts for 15% of invasive breast cancers and is more common in premenopausal women under 50, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Kim shared that she is part of a group chat with 12 other women, aged 26 to 35, all currently undergoing treatment for triple-negative breast cancer across the East Coast.

“You’re not too young. My oncologist just diagnosed a 23-year-old with the same triple negative breast cancer… no family history,” she added. “Unfortunately, it’s happening younger and younger. Do your monthly checks. If you feel something, just go get it checked and don’t be naive that it’s not going to happen to you because, unfortunately, I felt the same way.”

Breast cancer rates are rising, particularly among younger women, despite a 44% decline in breast cancer death rates since 1989. From 2012 to 2021, breast cancer incidences increased 1% annually, mostly in localized and hormone receptor-positive cases, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society.

Kim’s journey to healing

Kim will be undergoing 16 weeks of chemotherapy, which includes 8 rounds of dose-dense treatment every other week. Dose-dense chemotherapy involves administering chemotherapy more frequently while maintaining the standard dosage.

After chemotherapy, tissue will be tested to ensure the treatment was fully effective before proceeding with a double mastectomy.

Kim’s first round of chemotherapy started on Nov. 1, and she will return for her third round this Friday.

“The first treatment, I was great. I was like, ‘Oh, this is nothing.’ And then I jinxed myself, because the last treatment was really, really rough. I got very sick during treatment, and then all of last week I couldn’t move from the couch,” she said.

Kim is using a cold cap to preserve her hair during chemotherapy. The cap circulates liquid at around 32°F, causing blood vessels in the scalp to constrict, which reduces blood flow and limits the amount of chemotherapy medication that enters the hair follicle cells, helping to minimize damage to hair follicles.

“I’m going into my third treatment and I’m definitely losing hair, but it’s not coming out in clumps. And I could still leave the house and feel like I look somewhat normal,” she said.

Patients typically wear the cap 30 minutes before, during, and 90 to 120 minutes after chemotherapy.

Kim shared that she will undergo reconstructive surgery by June or July, several months after her mastectomy, to allow time for breast tissue expanders to stretch the skin and provide more tissue for reconstruction or implants.

Lily’s story

During her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer, Kim shared that the toughest challenge has been being separated from her 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Lily.

“All of this has been happening while Lily has been in the ICU for her epilepsy,” Kim said.

Lily was diagnosed with drug-resistant focal epilepsy, a rare form of epilepsy defined as the failure to respond to at least two anti-seizure medications. On Dec. 11, it will mark two years since her diagnosis.

Recently, Lily was in the hospital for two weeks undergoing brain surgery.

“It really sucked because I couldn’t go to the hospital. She’s been there for two weeks, she actually comes home tonight, which is very exciting,” Kim said. “But for two weeks, I have not seen her because of my immune system being so weak. My doctor didn’t want me to go into the hospital.”

The family has been in and out of the ICU, hospitals, and ERs with Lily so many times that Kim says she’s lost count.

“And then I was diagnosed on top of that. So the medical bills are just… as you can imagine, between her and me, are insane,” Kim said.

Thus far, Lily has had three brain surgeries.

According to the National Institute of Health, patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy are more likely to be suitable for surgery and benefit from it, particularly the removal of the tissue responsible for seizures. Those who undergo surgery earlier in life and sooner after the onset of epilepsy are more likely to experience cognitive and developmental benefits — leading to higher cure rates and improvements in both neurodevelopment and quality of life.

“As her parents, our main goal is to get her to be seizure free,” Kim expressed.

“As far as healing together, she is my inspiration. I look at her and I see everything she has been through at such a young age with a smile on her face, and that just makes me say, ‘OK, if she can go through this with a smile on her face, I can overcome cancer and try to remain as positive as possible,’” Kim said.

Lily’s first seizure happened when Kim was 9 months pregnant with Valentina, which is why she calls Valentina her “angel baby” because she’s such a calm and laid-back baby.

“And Valentina is so little. Thank God, I don’t think it really affects her… until this last hospital stay with Lily, I noticed, I guess because I’m home with her, she’s been asking, ‘Where’s sissy?’ and she doesn’t quite understand. But for the most part, thankfully, she’s doing very, very well,” Kim said.

With Kim and Lily’s health struggles, the medical bills are piling up.

Lily’s brain surgery in January was billed at over $1 million, with Kim sharing they had to pay a “pretty penny.” Kim added that, in September, Lily was hospitalized for two weeks, and the family is still battling a $275,000 bill. This month, Lily was in the hospital again for another two weeks.

“The whole point of the GoFundMe is to take the stress away from my husband because not only is he the sole provider, but he’s also the sole caregiver now, so he has to take care of Lily and me,” Kim said. “The hope is that we can take the big stress off of him, which is financial. That would be amazing.”

Since Kim’s diagnosis, Vincent joined a support group for breast cancer caregivers, which Kim is grateful for. She shared that while it’s easy to talk to friends, they can’t truly understand unless they’re living through it.

“We’re just grateful for anything we can raise. It’s really just to take a big stress off my husband,” Kim said. “You know men, they kind of hold it in. He doesn’t let me see how he’s feeling. I think he’s really good at trying to stay cool and calm and collected.”

To support the LaRosa family as they navigate these health challenges they’ve been facing, please visit their GoFundMe page at: gofundme.com/f/donate-to-the-kim-lilys-health-journey.