Tajana Šturlić’s Patient Story – Breast Cancer
“A cancer diagnosis is not the end – life does not stop there.”
Tajana Šturlić, a 48-year-old woman from Zagreb and Marketing Manager at M SAN Group, is bravely fighting breast cancer for the third time. The same scenario in which she discovered cancer by feeling a lump under her armpit occurred the same way three times. During her second treatment, she decided to seek help at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Zabok, officially opened in 2025. She was also the Center’s very first patient and says she is truly grateful with the prompt response of the doctors and the professional team, as well as with the efficiency of the entire process.
Although she is still fighting her battle, Tajana courageously speaks about her experiences so far and the consequences this relentless disease has had on her everyday life.
Can you take us back to the beginning? How did your journey with the disease start and did you experience any symptoms?
My story is very specific. I was first diagnosed with cancer in 2020. One morning, I simply woke up and felt a lump under my armpit. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I postponed going to the doctor for quite a long time, even for several months. Eventually, when I went for an examination, I was diagnosed with cancer.
How did your treatment journey progress?
After the diagnosis, I underwent chemotherapy and surgery, and everything was fine until the second time, when I felt another lump under my armpit in 2024. I went for an examination even though I had been having regular check-ups every six months and that was when they determined that the cancer had recurred in the same place as the first time.
What was your condition like between the first and second diagnosis?
Everything was calm during that period, for four and a half years. I had my regular check-up in June, and in October I felt a lump. I went for an examination, and the cancer returned. After that, I underwent another surgery, followed by radiotherapy.
Only six months later, I felt another lump in the same place and now I have cancer for the third time – or, more precisely, a second recurrence. The doctors kept reassuring me for four or five months that everything was fine. After that, I went to a private clinic and asked the doctor to perform a biopsy, and it turned out the cancer returned again.
From the very beginning, I had been following the recommended monitoring schedule. Every six months I had regular check-ups, including an ultrasound and tumor markers, or more precisely, blood tests, and once a year I had an MRI.
How did you find out about UPMC?
I am the first patient of UPMC Hillman Cancer Center in Zabok. I came there after my second diagnosis, when the cancer recurred, because we were seeking additional opinions. Through a colleague, I was put in touch with Jelena, a nurse who works at UPMC. At that time, however, the Center had not yet opened, so we agreed to stay in touch after my surgery in December 2024.
Since I had been prescribed radiotherapy, and at that time there was only one linear accelerator operating in Zagreb, I was put on a waiting list. Every time I called my hospital, they could not tell me when I would be able to start because the machine was not working.
There is a generally accepted standard that radiotherapy should begin within three months. Since I was constantly in touch with Jelena, she told me that UPMC would open its doors in March of 2025 and invited me to come for an examination. UPMC in Zabok started operating around that time, and that was when I began my radiotherapy.
Did the UPMC Center meet your expectations?
Yes, everything was truly excellent. Everyone was professional and kind. I saw Dr. Bebek, and everything was absolutely phenomenal and handled properly. I was the first patient there, so I was walking into something completely new and did not know what to expect.
I had my examination and consultation on the Tuesday before the opening. The Center officially opened on Thursday, and on Monday I was already on the treatment table.
Everything was truly excellent and professional. Dr. Bebek took the time to explain everything, especially because this was my first recurrence, and he gave me the support I really needed.
As for the radiotherapy itself, everything went smoothly and there was no waiting. I arrived at 8:30 a.m., and by 8:40 I was finished.
At UPMC, radiotherapy is performed using a new technique called DIBH – Deep Inspiration Breath-Hold. This technique reduces the exposure of the heart and lungs to ionizing radiation. During radiation treatment, the patient takes a deep breath and holds it, which moves the heart farther away from the area being treated, reducing the risk of damage to healthy organs.
I have nothing but praise for the entire team. They are truly knowledgeable, supportive, and professional. Hats off to them.
Has the disease changed the way you think and your attitude toward everyday life? Have you changed anything in your life since then?
I don't even know what I haven't changed. I follow everything I am supposed to. I no longer eat meat, I exercise regularly, I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I pay attention to everything.
Now, after going through this so many times, I don't even know whether I am afraid anymore. As I told Dr. Bebek, every time I feel some kind of lump, I think, “Here we go again.”
I'm probably not the right patient to tell you whether I am afraid, because when we found out that I had cancer in the same place for the third time, we were all shocked. No one can find an explanation as to why it happened again.
How did you cope psychologically with the entire process? Did you have the support of the people around you?
Definitely my family. In many ways, this has been much harder for them than for me – my parents, my brother, my husband and my children have all been by my side throughout the entire process.
My father is a doctor, so he believes there is a rational solution to everything. After the first time, I did not undergo radiotherapy because I was told it was not necessary. That was later considered one of the reasons the cancer returned – perhaps a cancer cell remained.
Four and a half years later, the same process happened again. This time, however, radiotherapy was prescribed after the surgery, and we were all convinced that it was the end of it.
We knew what type of cancer it was, how it should be treated, and we caught it early. It had not spread anywhere. Yet, practically six months later, after all the procedures and radiotherapy, there it was again.
None of the doctors has a clear explanation for why it returned so quickly, other than the fact that its biology is apparently such. We did everything that needed to and could be done.
Dr. Bebek even joked that I might end up in medical textbooks as a rather extraordinary case.
What would you advise someone who is in your situation – someone who encounters such a problem and is trying to get a diagnosis but does not know whom to turn to?
I would say that a cancer diagnosis is not the end. Life definitely does not end there, no matter how frightened someone may be by that final-sounding verdict.
Don't postpone going to the doctor for examinations. It is much easier when you hear that you have cancer but that it has not spread – that it is still there, localized.
Listen to your doctors and find someone you trust, someone who will have the time for you, answer all your questions and explain everything to you.
When they tell you that you have cancer, there is no room for despair and no giving up. The most important thing is to put it into perspective in your mind. The way you deal with it mentally will shape how you move forward.
If anyone has a reason to cry, it is me, but that won't help. I postponed going to the doctor the first time because I was afraid. But cancer will not go away on its own. It will only go away if you do something about it.
Finally, I would tell people to enjoy every day. There is something good that comes out of all of this. You truly realize what matters, who matters to you and how you want to live.
