Sandra “Sandy” Burnside – Thyroid Cancer Patient Story

In March 2023, Sandy Burnside visited her primary care physician for a rapidly enlarging lump on her neck. After an ultrasound, she was referred to Kimberly Ramonell, MD, an endocrine surgeon at UPMC who specializes in the treatment of thyroid and parathyroid disease/cancers and adrenal tumors. At her appointment in Oakland in May 2023, Dr. Ramonell confirmed the lump on Sandy’s neck was a very large tumor and was concerned it was invading her trachea. It needed to be surgically removed but would require an extensive and potentially high-risk procedure.

With the multidisciplinary team of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center experts who work together to care for patients with various thyroid cancers, Dr. Ramonell reached out to Dan Zandberg, MD, a medical oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside and director of the Head and Neck and Thyroid Cancer Disease Sections, to see if there were other treatment options before embarking on surgery.

Sandy, 67, met with Dr. Zandberg who confirmed the tumor was anaplastic thyroid cancer, a rare type of very aggressive cancer. Historically, anaplastic thyroid cancer has been difficult to treat with limited options. But with recent advances in the understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of thyroid cancers, new possibilities for this and other types of aggressive thyroid cancers are now available. Some of this work is led by Yuri E. Nikiforov, MD, PhD, a UPMC pathologist and a renowned expert on thyroid cancer research.

Sandy’s tumor was analyzed for mutations using a specialized, UPMC-developed test called ThyroSeq®. Based on this testing, Dr. Zandberg recommended oral targeted therapy pills for a BRAF V600E mutation that was found. Before treatment started, Sandy needed an urgent bronchoscopy, performed by Roy Semaan, MD, a UPMC interventional pulmonologist to evaluate the tumor inside her trachea.

Comprehensive Cancer Care

She started her oral targeted therapy pills and her cancer began to shrink. However, a fall in June resulted in a hospital stay – for six days – at UPMC Shadyside. Sandy was diagnosed with hydrocephalus (unrelated to her cancer or treatment), and Pascal O. Zinn, MD, PhD, associate director, Adult Neurosurgical Oncology Program, needed to insert a shunt into Sandy’s brain to drain excess fluid. She recovered well from the brain surgery and was able to continue her targeted therapy pills.

In October 2023, imaging and another bronchoscopy confirmed Sandy’s tumor shrunk enough so it and the rest of her thyroid could be surgically removed by Linwah Yip, MD, chief, UPMC Division of Endocrine Surgery. She stayed overnight to recover at UPMC Shadyside. After evaluating her thyroid under a microscope, it looked like all of the anaplastic cancer was successfully treated by targeted therapy, however it was discovered that Sandy also had residual conventional papillary thyroid cancer.

After surgery, Sandy underwent treatment with chemotherapy and radiation to make sure the anaplastic thyroid cancer was eradicated, which overlapped Thanksgiving and Christmas. Christopher Wilke, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside, developed her treatment plan that included 30 visits. In May 2024, Sandy received radioactive iodine therapy for six days where she drank a solution that entered her bloodstream and was absorbed by her thyroid cells. This gave off radiation and killed any residual papillary thyroid cancer that could have been outside of her thyroid gland.

Sandy is currently back on oral targeted therapy with the plan to complete treatment in 2025.

Cancer Free

Sandy’s latest scan in May showed there was no new cancer growth. She returns for a visit about every six weeks with Dr. Zandberg and has an echocardiogram done every three months to make sure her heart isn’t affected by treatment. She also continues to see her UPMC endocrinologist Yunjiao Wang, MD.

Throughout her two years of treatment, Sandy has remained positive and continues to work part-time. She said her faith and the team at UPMC Hillman have helped carry her through.

“The lord is taking care of me, and so has UPMC,” says Sandy, who lives in Freedom. “When this first started – when I was being transferred from a different health care system – I didn’t know who I was being referred to, but I ended up getting the most phenomenal care in the world.”

To show her appreciation and to further high-quality cancer care, Sandy decided to donate to UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.

Sandy recalls fondly when she received two pillows during a visit that was made possible by a partnership with UPMC Hillman and a patient who owns a pillow company.

“They are unbelievable. They bend over backwards for their patients,” she says.