Sandy Kokkonos' HER2 Misdiagnosis Story

“From August to the following October, it was every 3 weeks, chemo for 6 hours, and I went through the whole thing. Almost two years later, I was so excited to ring the bell at the hospital. The follow-up treatment was to go every 6 months.

Two months later, I got a call that my oncologist wanted to see me. My oncologist said that you were diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer, but then there was a mistake in the lab and you actually have HER2 negative…she said that means that you most likely (she didn’t give me definite answers) that you didn’t need the chemo.

We called three people, and Lisa called my husband within two hours. [Lisa] sent me an email and said “Can I have a conversation with you?” And she called me, and we were on the phone for two and a half hours. She never interrupted me at all. She listened to everything I said. She walked us through everything, and she was the best thing that ever happened to us because we had no idea that we going to go after this hospital; that we could get compensated…she became family to us because she was so caring, and genuine and down to earth.”