Connect

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, meet the Henrys in the latest installment of our Connect article series “Hope at Work” — showcasing inspiring stories about how our team members contribute to UVA Health’s 10-year Strategic Plan: “One Future Together Health and Hope for All.” No matter where you work, you have an opportunity to inspire hope in others. These stories show how:

Cuddles, first words, story times, and first days of school. UVA Health’s Dana Henry, Assistant Dietetic Internship Director and Prenatal Dietitian, and her husband, Logan Henry, Cardiac Device Nurse, now cherish the small moments with their daughters, Callie, 6, and Emery, 4.

They take nothing for granted. Dana survived breast cancer during her pregnancy with her younger daughter. “I learned to release control and to not sweat the small stuff,” she explains. “While I tried to maintain a positive attitude and do what I could, I also realized I needed to accept the help of others. My focus and energy shifted to fighting for not only my life, but my daughter’s as well.”

Breast Cancer — or Pregnancy Hormone Changes?

Dana, originally from Ohio — and Logan, a Charlottesville native — met on 4 East in 2010, but didn’t start dating until three years later. In Dana’s role as a prenatal dietitian, she also worked with Logan’s mom, Sandy Henry, who’s been an OB/GYN nurse at UVA Health for more than 40 years!

Dana and Logan got married in 2016 and had Callie in 2017. In spring 2019, they found out they were expecting their second child. A few weeks later, Dana felt a lump in her left breast. At first, she wasn’t concerned. “The first thing that came to mind was that it was a clogged milk duct,” she recalls. “I’d started weaning Callie from nursing — she was almost 2 years old.” 

Plugged milk ducts are common during weaning as the baby’s feeding schedule changes. Women who are nursing, pregnant — or recently have given birth — experience hormone changes that can affect the breasts. This can make breast cancer difficult to find.

A month passed, and the mass in Dana’s breast didn’t go away. So her OB/GYN specialist Katherine Latimer, MD, ordered an ultrasound. The results concerned the radiologist. That same day, Dana, 14 weeks pregnant, also ended up having a mammogram and a biopsy. “This all happened on Friday afternoon, so I had an anxious weekend of not knowing,” she remembers. 

‘I Was in Good Hands’

The following Monday, she received the news. Dana had HER2-positive, hormone negative cancer in her left breast. HER2 is a gene that helps breast cancer cells grow quickly, according to the American Cancer Society. The cancer had spread to her lymph nodes near the left breast. 

More imaging tests usually are given after a cancer diagnosis to allow doctors to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. But some of these tests aren’t safe for unborn babies. Dana would have to wait until after Emery’s birth for more testing. 

“I spent my entire pregnancy not knowing if the cancer had spread anywhere else beyond my lymph nodes,” she remembers. “That added a big fear and anxiety factor to the whole pregnancy. But there were so many specialists on my care team. I was in good hands.”

After her diagnosis, Dana's maternal-fetal medicine specialist Christian Chisholm, MD, led Dana’s high-risk care team along with breast oncologist Patrick M. Dillon, MD, and breast surgeon Shayna Showalter, MD.

Care for Two

A few days after Mother’s Day 2019, Dana began chemotherapy treatments. HER2-positive breast cancer responds well to targeted therapies. But these medications aren’t usually safe for unborn babies.

“We started off combining two different types of chemotherapy,” says Dana, who has no family history of breast cancer and tested negative for all the major breast cancer genetic mutations such as BRCA. 

After four chemo cycles, imaging revealed her tumor had grown. So Dr. Showalter performed a left mastectomy and removed the lymph nodes from the left armpit. Dana was 25 weeks pregnant.

Best and Most Advanced Patient Care

Following surgery, Dana’s treatments included chemotherapy and a reduced dose of targeted therapy. Her medical team also increased growth scans for Emery, who developed as expected for her gestational age. Cardiologist James Bergin, MD, medical director of UVA Health’s Heart Failure/Cardiac Transplantation Program, also monitored Dana’s heart function — it had dropped from more than 65% to 40%, according to an echocardiogram. Concerned, Bergin coordinated with her medical team to schedule Emery’s delivery the next week.

“I appreciated the individualized care that I received,” Dana says. “When things didn’t go as planned, the medical team had to pivot along the way. They always developed the best care plan for me, as well as for Emery.”

Welcoming Emery; Attacking Breast Cancer

Emery was born at 33 weeks via cesarean section and spent a month in the NICU. Within a week of giving birth, Dana underwent imaging tests such as a bone scan, and CT scans of the chest and pelvis. Fortunately, her cancer had not spread beyond the lymph nodes.

Now that Emery was out of the womb, Dana was able to try any appropriate cancer therapy. She had: 

• 30 rounds of radiation
• Targeted drug (different from the one she had during pregnancy)
• 8 more cycles of chemotherapy
• 6.5 cycles of oral chemotherapy
• Additional year of another targeted drug

“I told my team, ‘Just throw me back into treatments!’” Dana says. “I had two young girls at home, so I wanted to do everything possible to fight the cancer.”

One UVA Health Team

Dana and Logan are grateful for the care she and Emery received at UVA Health. She sees her oncology team every six months. For now, Dana is cancer free.

“One of the great things about UVA Health is that all the people involved in my care were in one place,” Dana says. “They already were familiar with working together on different patient cases. I wasn't the first patient they had treated for breast cancer during pregnancy. So that coordination of care really became important, especially later in my pregnancy. We were impressed with how they took care of us.”

“The care that Dana received throughout her course of treatment was top notch,” hails Logan. “The collaboration between the specialty teams and their ability to quickly communicate with each other during unanticipated events and changes in the course of treatment was impressive. I have a lot of respect and appreciation for the knowledge and expertise of all the staff involved in her care. Thanks to many of them, Dana and Emery are a happy and healthy part of my life!”

Best Place to Work

It’s that same easy access and experience of care initiative from the UVA Health strategic plan that Dana — who started at UVA Health in 2009 as a dietetic intern — has applied to her own roles. And she loves “the endless opportunities to grow and develop my knowledge and skills to be a better clinician. It doesn’t hurt that I work with some awesome people, too!” she says of UVA Health.

When asked what he loves most about his role, Logan — who started at UVA Health in 2008 as a patient care assistant while attending nursing school — touts tech, patient care, and teamwork: “I enjoy utilizing the technology of cardiac devices to help optimize patients’ well-being — and working together with an amazing group of co-workers,” he answers.

More Q & A With Dana and Logan Henry

What does your family do for fun locally?

“When we aren’t running the birthday party circuit (if you have young kids, you know!), we keep busy on the weekends by spending time outdoors, attending sporting events, hanging out with friends and family, and trying new restaurants.”

What’s your favorite travel destination so far?

“We took a trip to California last year (without the kids — very thankful for grandparents!). We went to Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Big Sur, Monterey/Carmel, Sonoma, and San Francisco. We did a lot of hiking, exploring new areas, and eating delicious food. We look forward to taking the girls one day!"

Ready to share your UVA Health story of inspiring “Hope at Work”? Submit your interest to this form for consideration for a future installment.