At 34, Molly Kinsella had built a life she loved in Chicago. She worked as a project manager for a real estate developer, ran along the lake, enjoyed spending time with friends and traveled whenever she could.
But one morning in 2023, she noticed an unusual feeling in her breast.
“I found a lump in the center of my left breast — and it didn’t feel great,” says Molly, who lives in the Old Town neighborhood. “At the time, I was startled but just thought it was a cyst.”
She trusted her gut and contacted her primary care provider, who referred her to a gynecologist. The gynecologist sent her to a radiologist that same day, and an hour after that appointment, Molly had a mammogram.
“I knew women don’t qualify for mammograms until they’re 40,” Molly says. “So that was one of my first signs that maybe things weren’t as rosy as I thought they were.”
Her doctor suspected it was breast cancer, and due to her age, her doctor had Molly take a cancer genetic blood test. The results showed Molly had the BRCA1 gene mutation, which increases her risk and severity of certain cancers.
A few days after, Molly had a biopsy, which confirmed her stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis.
“I truly was naive to the fact that breast cancer could happen to me, especially since I didn’t have a family history of any type of cancer,” Molly says. “I was young, active and healthy, so it didn’t cross my mind.”
Her doctor referred her to RUSH MD Anderson Cancer Center. And a few hours after Molly’s doctor sent over her test results, she got a call from Madeline McIntosh, RN, a breast cancer care coordinator.
“I was at work when I learned about my diagnosis. It wasn’t great, so I walked home and just felt totally lost. Then, when I got the call, Madeline said, ‘Go home and be with your people. We’ll get started on this at an appointment we’ve made for you tomorrow at 8 a.m.,” Molly says. “It was one of the most comforting things in the world. They took care of everything and started guiding the process right away. It made me feel like a human and not just a patient in the most uncertain time of my life.”
Meeting her care team
The next morning, Molly came in for her appointment with a breast surgeon at RUSH MD Anderson, who reviewed her previous tests, and later referred Molly to Ruta Rao, MD, a medical oncologist at RUSH MD Anderson.
Rao says Molly’s BRCA1 mutation was an important factor in determining her care plan.
“Patients with the BRCA1 mutation tend to develop triple negative breast cancer, or a more aggressive form of breast cancer,” Rao says. “Given that Molly was a BRCA1 mutation carrier and her tumor had a high growth rate, we decided to treat it as triple negative.”
Molly’s treatment would consist of chemotherapy with immunotherapy followed by surgery, with the goal of trying to make the cancer disappear before the latter, Rao says.
Cold capping during chemo
While discussing chemotherapy, Molly’s doctors told her the treatment could cause her hair to fall out.
“That’s when the tears rolled down my cheeks — and the part that made the cancer feel real,” Molly says. “But Dr. Rao really understood me. She got that I didn’t want to completely stop my life because of cancer and that I was just trying to get back to normal.”
Molly chose cold capping to help reduce hair loss during chemotherapy. The cold cap works by cooling the scalp before, during and after treatment, helping limit how much chemotherapy reaches and damages the hair.
On Aug. 3, Molly started the first of her 16 rounds of chemotherapy with immunotherapy.
“Cold capping gave me a sense of control over a situation that you don’t have a lot of control in,” Molly says. “I am sensitive about that, too, because I know it’s not successful for everyone. I was lucky enough that it was for me and I was very appreciative of that.”
It wasn’t easy, though, as each day of chemo ended up lasting nine hours, Molly says. She was grateful to have her cousin and mom there throughout.
“She has a lovely family who supported her,” Rao says. “Molly’s mother traveled from St. Louis to join her at all of her chemo treatments and be by her side.”
Molly did experience arthritis pain, which Rao says can be a side effect of immunotherapy. While she received steroid treatment for it, Molly also saw Angela Lorbeck, DACM, at RUSH MD Anderson, for acupuncture.
“Acupuncture was new to me, but it really helped relieve my symptoms during chemo,” Molly says. “And having it administered at the hospital, under the care of a team that knew my treatment plan, made it more comfortable and convenient, too.”
A double mastectomy and reconstruction
Right before Christmas, Molly completed her final round of chemotherapy. And in January, Molly was scheduled to have a double mastectomy, or the removal of both breasts.
“For patients with the BRCA1 gene, we recommend both breasts be removed to reduce the risk of developing a new breast cancer in the future,” Rao says.
After her double mastectomy, her team of providers confirmed Molly had a full pathological response to chemotherapy, meaning she had no remaining cancer cells in her breast or lymph nodes.
“While the standard of care is to finish a few more cycles of the immunotherapy after surgery, no chemotherapy, targeted or radiation therapy was required in Molly’s case,” Rao says. “The most significant thing about it is those patients have the lowest chance of cancer recurrence.”
Molly was thrilled to hear the news from her doctors.
“I was so excited. It gave me some ability to choose my next step. Radiation wasn’t required, but it was still an option for me. And given my unique circumstances, I opted not to do,” Molly says. “To get some freedom back by having a choice of treatment was a nice win.”
Following a successful surgery, Molly had breast reconstruction in May, done by plastic surgeon Deana Shenaq, MD, at RUSH MD Anderson.
“For me, being young was a big factor in moving forward with reconstruction. I didn’t want to have a lot of physical changes after cancer,” Molly says. “And Dr. Shaneq was the best and made great recommendations. I really had an A-team.”
Preventing future cancer risks
After her surgeries, Rao referred Molly to specialists who could help reduce her risk of other cancers associated with the BRCA1 gene.
“BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that make proteins that help repair damaged DNA,” Rao says. “When you have a mutation in one of these genes, that repair mechanism doesn’t work properly, which increases your risk of developing certain cancers, specifically breast and ovarian cancer.”
Women with a BRCA1 gene mutation have up to a 60% lifetime risk of ovarian cancer. And while there’s no screening test for ovarian cancer for people with an average risk, preventive procedures can help reduce the risk for those with a higher risk.
Molly met with Summer Dewdney, MD, a gynecologic oncologist at RUSH MD Anderson, who recommended removing her fallopian tubes, where many ovarian cancers tend to begin.
“When Dr. Dewdney explained everything to me, it was interesting seeing cancer from a preventative lens as opposed to being in the thick of treatment,” Molly says. “She explained the increased risk of ovarian cancer tied to the gene and walked through the procedure and fertility implications. I had frozen my eggs years before I knew I had cancer, so that wasn’t a complication for me. And it made the preventive surgery a straightforward decision for me.”
In August of 2025, Molly had her fallopian tubes removed laparoscopically. “It was the easiest surgery I had,” Molly adds.
Life after breast cancer
Following treatment, Molly continues to have no signs of cancer. She sees Rao and Dewdney every six months for checkups, and Shenaq every year.
Since then, Molly has been on a mission to travel more, taking a whirlwind of 18 trips in 18 months with her best friend. Some of her favorite places were Detroit, Nashville, Phoenix and anywhere with a beach. Next year, she hopes to take 12 trips in 12 months.
“It’s my personality to say yes to things and not really hold back, and after treatment, I’ve intensified that a bit,” Molly says. “Traveling was a way to get back to my life and shift the narrative from cancer.”
She’s grateful, meanwhile, for the team of doctors and nurses who took care of her and helped her return to her everyday life.
“Everyone was so kind and supportive,” Molly says. “The staff make the hospital not a scary place. They really care about me and my well-being, and that’s taken a lot of the fear out of it. Now, I look forward to updating my providers on the fun progress in my life at my regular monitoring appointments.”
Rao says she admires Molly’s strength and resilience throughout.
“Molly has been a true pleasure to take care of and to work with, and our entire team feels that way,” Rao says. “Molly had such a positive attitude in the way she dealt with everything, like the BRCA mutation and making some life-altering decisions because of it.”
Molly offers this advice to other young women: “Trust your body and yourself.”
“You understand your body and its habits, and you know when something doesn’t seem right,” Molly says. “And in the event that you do have to deal with it, trust the process, but also advocate for yourself. I am so thankful to have an incredible team at RUSH MD Anderson that listened to me, understood me and helped me navigate a new normal, but the same old me.”
For more information on breast cancer care at RUSH MD Anderson, or to schedule a mammogram, visit us online or by calling (312) CANCER-1.
