Jenney Bitner eagerly anticipated her family’s yearly visit to her mother’s home in San Diego. It provided a couple of weeks of fun for her three children and a break from Washington’s rainy February for Bitner and her husband. In 2020, this trip felt especially needed as Bitner was 22 weeks pregnant and wanted to enjoy family time during her pregnancy.
However, just a day into the trip, Bitner became too ill to get out of bed. She experienced severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. Visits to two urgent care clinics attributed her symptoms to pregnancy, a conclusion Bitner doubted. She hoped her upcoming appointment with her obstetrician would clarify her condition. Upon returning home, Bitner experienced two falls which led her husband to insist on a visit to the emergency room. An MRI scan unveiled a large brain tumor. Doctors arranged surgery to extract as much of the tumor as possible. Tests revealed Bitner had Stage IV melanoma that had metastasized to her brain. This was surprising as melanoma typically reveals itself with skin lesions that Bitner had not noticed. The American Cancer Society notes that when the disease has spread as Bitner’s had, the five-year survival rate is about 35%.
“I had just turned 38, and I was pregnant with my fourth kid. I was thinking, ‘I’m too young for this to be happening,'” Bitner recalled. “I was thinking, ‘There’s no way I’m going to make it through this. I’m never going to see this baby survive to a year old.’ I was terrified.”
Bitner’s doctors recommended an aggressive treatment path since the initial surgery had removed most of the tumor but not all of it without risking brain damage. Additional tests revealed a notable cancerous nodule in Bitner’s back that could be felt through her skin. She needed immunotherapy, but it posed risks to her unborn child. Doctors advised a pre-term delivery to start treatment. After monitoring, the decision was made to deliver her baby via C-section at 34 weeks.
Days before the scheduled delivery, Bitner experienced renewed nausea and headaches. A scan showed her tumor had regrown to its original size. Beyond immunotherapy, she required another brain surgery.
“I had these three and a half children, and my thought was, ‘I’m not going to see them grow up,'” Bitner said. “I started writing them letters, like, all these things that I was going to want to say to them, because I didn’t think I’d be there to say it to them.”
On May 4, Bitner delivered her son, naming him Marcus after her neurosurgeon. He weighed 3 pounds 12 ounces and spent initial days in the NICU, yet Bitner’s husband described him as “a fighter” and “feisty already.” A week after, Bitner underwent another brain surgery, and the surgeon managed to remove the entire tumor. Both mother and son recovered sufficiently to return home on the same day. Bitner’s husband expressed joy at having the family reunited, even welcoming the inevitable sleepless nights of a newborn.
In early June 2020, Bitner began immunotherapy aimed at boosting her immune system. While anxious about new cancerous developments near her lungs, thigh, and brain, the treatment’s quick effects were encouraging. Her husband noted rapid reductions in the size of her tumors. Scans confirmed her remarkable progress. By the end of her immunotherapy sessions, Bitner was driving herself.
Though rare side effects, such as an allergic reaction and encephalitis, led to hospitalizations, Bitner felt the outcomes justified the means when her oncologist declared her free of disease in October 2020.
Dr. Alicia Zhou, CEO of the Cancer Research Institute, recognizes the transformative potential of immunotherapy. Previously, ‘cure’ was rarely a term associated with Stage IV metastatic conditions.
“It’s really, truly transformational for these patients,” Zhou stated.
Nearly six years later, Bitner is grateful to be in remission and promotes awareness for immunotherapy. Her main focus is on spending cherished time with her family.
“I feel like every day I’ve had since all this has happened has been a gift. I shouldn’t have had all this time, and so I take every day as something precious,” Bitner said. “It’s chaos in my house all the time. And there was a time I would have dreaded it … but now those are sounds I didn’t think I was going to get to hear, so they’re music to my ears. The messy house is a pain, but it’s a messy house I didn’t think I was ever going to have.”
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