Singer Sam McClymont, 38, Says the Hardest Part of Facing Aggressive Breast Cancer is Feeling Like She Can’t Be the Mom & Wife She Wants to Be

Coping With Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

• Singer-songwriter Sam McClymont, 38, admits coping with her triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis has been challenging, but she’s determined to keep fighting, especially for her children and husband. Her treatment plan includes chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgery, and radiation.
• “Triple-negative” means the cancer is not fueled by any of the three main types of receptors: estrogen, progesterone, or the HER2 protein. Because of this, the cancer won’t respond to certain common therapies.
• In addition to surgery and radiation, chemotherapy is a mainstay of treatment for early-stage triple-negative breast cancer. Different chemotherapy combinations may be used to treat this aggressive form of cancer.
• In some cases, immunotherapy — which harnesses the body’s immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells — will be used for triple-negative breast cancer.

Singer-songwriter Sam McClymont, 38, has opened up about what's it's like going through treatment for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. She described undergoing treatment as a full-time job, but said what's impacting her the most is the diagnosis interfering with her ability to be the best mom and wife she can be. “Feeling like I can’t be the mother and wife I want to be has been the hardest,” McClymont wrote in an Instagram post “There are days I can’t get out of bed. I can’t be ‘Sam McClymont’ as I have canceled all my work for the year, which also feels like losing a huge part of my identity,” the singer and mother of two continued. Sam is part of a country music group. Alongside her sisters Brooke and Mollie, they’ve produced songs like “Don’t Wish It All Away,” “Here’s to You and I,” and “Forever Begins Tonight.” For Sam, the last few months have been a whirlwind as she's adjusted to living with the disease. Triple-negative breast cancer means your cancer is not fueled by any of the three main types of receptors — estrogen, progesterone, or the HER2 protein. Because of this, the cancer won’t respond to certain targeted therapies, including hormone therapy or HER2-targeted agents like Herceptin. Chemotherapy is typically the treatment, and there are several options. WATCH: Treating triple-negative breast cancer. If the triple-negative breast cancer patient does not have many symptoms, oral chemotherapy like Xeloda (generic name: capecitabine) may be prescribed. If the patient becomes resistant to the oral chemo drug, IV (intravenous) chemotherapy may be offered weekly or bi-weekly. McClymont shared how undergoing treatment has impacted her life. “Last October, I found a lump. After initially being misdiagnosed, my life completely turned upside down four months later when I was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at 38 years old,” McClymont wrote. “The world stopped suddenly, and everything that we thought 2024 would be came crashing to an almighty halt. Triple-negative breast cancer is the most aggressive form,” McClymont continued. She described how her day-to-day life has evolved while raising a family and being a cancer patient. “It has become my full-time job having treatment. It has begun with chemotherapy/immunotherapy, which in total will be five months, followed by surgery and then radiation,” McClymont explained.

“Sometimes, it feels like Groundhog Day when I find myself back at the hospital for my weekly chemo, blood tests, and shots,” she continued. Throughout the intensity of her journey, McClymont said her friends and family have been extremely supportive, which makes a massive difference while undergoing the rigors of treatment. “I know I will come out the other side of this, but it’s one step at a time,” McClymont added. Her sister Brooke commented on Instagram, “You always my beautiful sister.”

Expert Resources on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

• ‘It’s A Game Changer’: FDA Approves Keytruda, Chemo Combo To Treat Aggressive Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
• Chemo Plus Immunotherapy for Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
• Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatments To Consider
• More Than 80% of Women With Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Experienced a Prolonged Event-Free Survival With Keytruda Plus Chemotherapy Regimen
• New Study Identifies Genes Linked to Increased Risk for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
• Treating Early Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Understanding Samantha’s Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Triple-negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease and accounts for about 20 percent of all breast cancers. The treatment approach varies from patient to patient and may include a combination of different treatments. Early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) treatments may use a combination of chemotherapy drugs. For example, a CMF regimen is an abbreviation for combining chemotherapy drugs cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and fluorouracil. AC stands for doxorubicin (Adriamycin) with cyclophosphamide, and ACT just indicates that a taxane drug is added to the regimen. Likewise, TC is an abbreviation for a regimen of Taxotere and cyclophosphamide. In 2021, the FDA approved the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab for the treatment of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) is already used to treat other cancers, including melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Doctors heralded the FDA’s approval of pembrolizumab as a potentially paradigm-shifting advancement in breast cancer treatment. For patients with stage 2 or 3 TNBC, adding the immune-boosting medication pembrolizumab to combination chemotherapy before surgery increases chances of living free of breast cancer, explains oncologist Dr. Sylvia Adams , director of the Breast Cancer Center at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center. She was one of several researchers involved with the pembrolizumab trials. “It changes the standard of care and should be discussed with all patients diagnosed with stage 2-3 TNBC,” she adds. “Yes, it’s a game-changer, though there is much more to be learned.”

Immunotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

The immune system works by using white blood cells to attack cells in the body that are abnormal or foreign. Cancer cells can stop the immune system from working like it should because they produce certain proteins that protect the tumor from white blood cells. As a result, the body does not recognize the cancerous tumor as abnormal. Immunotherapy stops this process by ensuring white blood cells recognize and attack cancer cells. WATCH: Immunotherapy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Keytruda (Pembrolizumab) is a form of immunotherapy called a checkpoint inhibitor. Checkpoint inhibitors specifically target proteins found on immune or cancer cells to prevent their binding. The advantage of checkpoint inhibitors in treating cancer is that they don’t kill cancer cells directly, but they stimulate the immune system to find the cancer cells and attack them while hopefully not affecting other surrounding healthy cells. Checkpoint inhibitors work on the background knowledge that the immune system can protect our bodies by eliminating any foreign cells that aren’t produced in the body. It sets out to do this by identifying specific proteins (also known as checkpoint proteins) that are only found on normal cells; when it finds them, it binds to this cell to mark it as safe and leaves it be. However, sometimes cancer cells can trick the immune system by displaying these same proteins, binding to the immune cells, switching them off, and starting to divide and reproduce, which manifests in the onset of cancer. Nevertheless, checkpoint inhibitors can help by specifically targeting proteins found on normal or cancer cells to prevent this binding and keep the immune cells alert to any foreign cells so that they can find and stop cancer cells. Known side effects for Keytruda include:

• Feeling tired (fatigue)
• Rash
• Cough and shortness of breath
• Decreased appetite
• Itching
• Low levels of thyroid hormone.
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Abdominal pain

Questions to Ask Your Doctor

If you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, you may have questions about how to keep your strength through treatment. Here are a few questions to help you begin the conversation:

• What treatment will I be receiving?
• What side effects are associated with this treatment?
• Are there steps I can take daily to help minimize these side effects?
• What physical activity routine do you recommend for me during treatment?
• Do you have recommendations for someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy exercise?