07/14/2026
The Cancer Story by ABP:
Darcy Bradby... Cancer Journey
Through my eyes, Brooke Hooke:
Darcy experienced the beautiful gift of children a little later in her life. At 41, Darcy was still breastfeeding her little one, Kylah, who is now 7 - mammograms were not at the forefront of her mind. On March 22nd, 2022, when Darcy did have her very first mammogram, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After many ultrasounds, biopsies, blood tests, and scans, it was confirmed that this breast cancer was in both of her breasts.
She had a slower growing cancer in the right breast, but the left was more aggressive and had spread further. She had ER PgR and HER2 positive. It had also spread to some lymph nodes and a spot in her mediastinal, making it metastatic breast cancer, stage 4. From then, Darcy started an intense treatment plan. In July of 2022, she had to cut those beautiful red locks for the first time. The harshest of the initial drugs was Taxol, which caused Darcy to experience not only hair loss, but also neuropathy among other symptoms.
We went to Fox Chase, got a 2nd opinion, and the doctors there worked with Darcy's doctor at home. Ultimately, they decided not to remove her breasts because it was already stage 4, which would likely cause lymphedema while also putting immense stress on Darcy’s body in this already difficult battle. Due to the nature of this cancer, Darcy had genetic testing done, where it was found that she was CHEK2 Positive, which explains why she already had to have her thyroid removed years earlier.
Darcy was seemingly doing well with all her treatments as far as the cancer was concerned. It was staying stable, but it was taking its toll in other places. Her eyes, teeth, and skin were affected by the drugs, which bothered her. It exacerbated a skin issue she had growing up, due to which she had to have a cyst removed from her face in the past. Additionally, there was some activity along the way that resulted in her needing a complete hysterectomy. She was experiencing pain in her left shoulder and also had an odd injury to her hip earlier, where it was never really determined if it was cracked or what had actually happened. The hip injury pushed the doctors to test her bones to ensure she did not have bone cancer as well, which at that time it was not.
In March of 2025, Darcy had her routine PET scan, which showed activity under her left armpit. From this, it was then decided that it was just another skin issue. There was talk of a change in treatment plan, but instead they said it should rather just be "watched". July's PET had the same result. She typically went 4 months in between scans, but for the next scan, they only waited 3 months. After October's PET, they did change treatment plans, but the new drugs made Darcy's stomach very upset and she had to deal with these new side effects. On December 27th, we had to cut those beautiful red locks once again.
I hated to see Darcy in so much anguish, so my husband (her brother Derek) and I wanted to try to lift her spirit up in whatever way we could. We bought her a trip (with us) to go to Las Vegas to see the New Kids on the Block for the July 4th weekend of 2026. Darcy wanted to go to that concert so badly and I was willing to do anything to give her something to look forward to and fight for, and anything to see her beautiful smile. Sadly, we never got her to that concert. Darcy stayed so strong! She kept moving and maintained being a wife, mother, and nurse, in spite of it all. She had already shifted to per diem as an LPN to allow her more flexibility for when she was not feeling well.
The doctors were ready to biopsy the spot under her arm that had started back in March of 2025. She had the biopsy in January 2026, but they did not get enough tissue, so they followed up with another. The news that came back was devastating! Darcy called me at work on February 23rd, 2026, to tell me that it had morphed to Triple Negative Breast cancer.
Immediately, we started another new treatment plan. We wanted another 2nd opinion and tried Sloan Kettering for it, but since Darcy had gone per diem, she also had to take state insurance, which made Sloan a more difficult path. I made an appointment for her at UPenn for March 3rd. While this was going on, Darcy was experiencing that same shoulder pain again, which got quite severe after a specific incident while on a day out with her children. Darcy was in a small accident on Valentines day where she went off the road, but luckily no one else was involved. We think it may have been from exhaustion, pain, and/or meds.
The last day Darcy worked as a nurse was February 22nd. I contacted a lawyer to help get her SSI or SSDI since she could no longer work. She did qualify for SSDI but she needed to wait until July since not enough time had passed for her to be out of work. In desperation to help with the piling expenses, Darcy's sister (Dawn) organized a GoFundMe and many family members and friends helped out. She was going to all sorts of doctors appointments to try to diagnose her shoulder, not knowing that she would soon find out that she had bone cancer as well. Getting the markers done for the radiation she would soon endure for the bone cancer was so very painful. Darcy had an extremely high tolerance for pain, so this coming from her would mean the pain was unimaginably excruciating.
On March 3rd, we also experienced an ice storm on the way to Philadelphia (UPenn), so it was pretty treacherous. The doctor we saw at U Penn said that she was on the most cutting edge treatment that had come out of a trial for triple neg breast cancer. Darcy started both the new treatment plan and the radiation, but her pain was not subsiding, rather getting so much worse. While all these treatments were changing, I believe everyone assumed that it would just take some time. They were giving her very strong pain meds and she was encasing herself in ice to search for any kind of relief. I contacted palliative care and they even tried fentanyl patches to ease the pain, but to no avail.
Darcy started to swell (lymphadenopathy) in her left arm, left breast, and stomach. In her arm, at least, they discovered that she had blood clots and that is where some of the pain was coming from. They began treating the clots and some of the swelling went down, but it just shortly came back with a vengeance. The lymphedema had now started in her right leg as well. At the same time, she was also receiving blood transfusions to treat the bone cancer while also being treated for an E. coli infection that was also causing immense pain. She was at the doctors constantly and it was hard to keep up with all the things happening to her body.
I had tried earlier to get Darcy to go to the hospital, but she refused so that she could maintain as much normalcy for her family as she could. She also tried to take the breakthrough pain meds sparingly so she could stay alert as much as possible. As I was watching my best friend and sister-in-law deteriorate, I made another appointment for April 17th with the doctor in UPenn, but through video. The night before this appointment, Darcy had fallen for the third time, since she was starting to have difficulty moving and walking. It took myself, her husband Kyle, and my son Isaac three hours to get her up off the floor, all while my husband Derek was building a handicap ramp around her! During the video call, the doctor urged Darcy to go to UPenn ED so they could do more tests. In their care, they would be able to help her best. She finally agreed!
Darcy remained in good spirits and still was her wonderful self through it all. She was admitted to UPenn that day and never got to leave. They did more tests there at the hospital that showed so much progression in such a short time. The cancer had spread to the lining of her stomach and bladder, and to her lungs, while the lymph cancer had progressed to the flank in her back and throughout her bronchial tubes (causing them to have to drain fluid from her left lung). They also put her on antibiotics for possible sepsis, but they never could find the source and she didn't even have a fever until the early morning of her passing. They attempted bedside chemo once in the hospital, which was a completely different and extremely strong combination of drugs, but they warned of the stress that it could cause to her organs.
Darcy chose this path in earnest to lengthen her life and make it to a rehabilitation to be closer to home. The very early morning of April 30th, Darcy was in such distress that they put her on a ventilator and induced a coma-like state. I had just done her health care directive two days prior and was very aware of her wishes, so we chose complete Hospice care and took her off of all support. Completely surrounded by myself and her loving family, she survived just a few short minutes without support. Her death was called at 8:31 P.M. on April 30th, 2026. Her death certificate states multiorgan failure, sepsis, pneumonia, and an underlying cause of metastasized breast cancer.
Darcy fought so hard to stay here with us and endured so much to do so. She was so very loved. Darcy had bought a cruise for her family for Christmas. Her husband Kyle and her two littles, Breon and Kylah, along with many of us (her family), will still sail in her honor and her memory on September 25th, 2026. It will be bittersweet and we will celebrate her! Thank you for hearing Darcy's story through my eyes (her sister in law and best friend).
Darcy Bradby 9/16/1977 - 4/30/2026
