Velocity 2024: Lydia's Story
Lydia Cunningham, from Dumont, New Jersey, knew exactly where she wanted to be treated when she learned of her stage 1 breast cancer diagnosis in 2013. As a Registered Nurse in the GI Endoscopy Suite at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), choosing Columbia for her cancer care was an easy decision during a very difficult time. With Katherine Crew, MD, by her side as her oncologist, she began her therapy. Over the next five years, Lydia underwent a lumpectomy, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy to keep the disease at bay, all while caring for patients of her own. For years, Lydia remained cancer free.
In February of 2024, she learned her cancer had come back. Despite being “crushed by the diagnosis,” especially after recently losing her husband, Lydia returned to Dr. Crew, hopeful and determined to walk out of the hospital cancer free once again.
Lydia soon learned that cancer research had advanced significantly since her last treatment over a decade ago, and that clinicians are able to leverage targeted drugs to treat cancer more precisely than before. Her care team at Columbia explained that they already had a plan to once again save Lydia’s life, including more chemotherapy, followed by breast surgery by Lisa Wiechmann, MD, assistant professor of surgery at CUIMC.
Today, Lydia remains cancer free. She joined the Velocity Ride 2024 at the starting line arm in arm with Dr. Crew to share her story. Lydia’s entire care team at Columbia and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center came together to develop a plan that would work for her, treating her as the unique person she is, not just the disease they have seen so many times before.
It's the mission of Velocity to continue telling colorful stories of survival like Lydia's and supporting lifesaving cancer research at Columbia.
