Meet the Models, New England: Deanna Potsis
Deanna Potsis was a happy and healthy mother of two when she felt a lump in her breast. Acting immediately, she was stunned to find out she already had stage 4, HER2 positive breast cancer. It was a diagnosis that “totally flipped my life around.”
Her children were only 3 and 10 months at the time and she was flourishing at her job as a dental hygienist. After about a month of feeling bad for herself where “time stood still,” Deanna said, “it makes you realize your life could be taken from you. I can either sit down and let this disease control me or I can find ways to become healthier and beat this. Doctors said I would be lucky if they could rid me of 50% of the cancer and that just ticked something off in me and I thought, bet.”
She went on to have 25 rounds of chemo, radiation and a single mastectomy and reconstruction. Throughout it all she had an incredible support system, even though she chose to fight the disease quietly, only letting immediate family in on the journey. Opting for cold capping in order to preserve her hair for her children, Deanna notes, “My husband and father in law would go and get coolers full of dry ice for me at 5 in the morning so I could do my chemo cold cap. I was doing treatment twice weekly for hours on end. All of us would wake up and get going for the whole day. They were my Wolfpack. They were there for every scan and treatment, I didn’t have to worry about a damn thing. The support system I have is spectacular. They went above and beyond.” She also credits women like her sister and mother in law who stepped in to help with the children during treatments: “they mothered my kids better than I could have during that time. Cancer took that time with them away from me, but I was lucky to have that support.”
Seven years out from diagnosis now, Deanna has a new purpose in life, which stems out of her incredible working relationship with Dana Farber. Allowing her to tailor her treatment, Dana Farber admitted Deanna into a clinical trail born out of her desire to stop her infusions. It’s a trial that aligns with Deanna’s desire to create a relationship between western medicine and holistic treatments: “One of the most prized things I do is teach others about holistic trials that have helped change the way my prognosis has gone. They said initially that I would live with this like a chronic illness and medicine could extend my life 10-15 years and at first I was happy with that, but what happens when medicine doesn’t work anymore? It sent me on the ultimate quest on how I can do better.” Indeed, Deanna stopped infusions in October of 2023 and at the time of our discussion, she had no signs of cancer in her scans.
Though she is quick to note how anxiety inducing scan times can be, she is determined to advocate for cancer patients in the realm of holistic remedies that can make their day to day better, including medical cannabis. She even partook in a documentary through Dana Farber that discusses the benefits of cannabis: “there are safety nets when drugs aren’t working. People don’t realize the quality of life you lose during a diagnosis like this. My goal is to get people out of nausea, out of depression and get their bodies into a healing state.” Soon Deana will be doing seminars on the benefits of holistic practices, alongside traditional medicine, to better help those facing a cancer diagnosis.
The past seven years have transformed Deanna’s purpose and reflecting back she notes, “it has shown me that this doesn’t have to be a death sentence. I am trying to create a platform that also involves holistic practices.” Her purpose has also evolved to start being purposefully more public about her diagnosis and journey, which is why she is excited for the runway–chiefly, to fundraise: “Life is expensive as is. Throw in a disease? I don’t know how people do it.”