Philip and Linda Simmons have faced significant health challenges in recent years but are now celebrating Valentine’s Day cancer-free after both received treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
“After 35 years of marriage, my heart still sings when I look at her,” Philip said. “My cancer was much worse on Linda than it was on me, and her cancer was worse on me than it was on her. Whichever one of us was sick, the other one filled in the gaps. But that’s the way we normally live our lives. Whatever one needs, the other one provides.”
Philip’s pancreatic cancer was discovered early in 2024 during an MRI scan for his kidneys. Dr. Arsen Osipov, medical director of the Pancreatic Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic and Multidisciplinary Cancer Programs and Integration at Cedars-Sinai, explained that this early detection was fortunate. “He was diagnosed at a curable stage, before the cancer had spread,” Osipov said. “Only 10 to 20% of patients with pancreatic cancer are diagnosed this early.”
At Cedars-Sinai’s multidisciplinary clinic, Philip met with a team of specialists who recommended four months of chemotherapy, followed by radiation therapy and a surgical procedure called a Whipple operation. Dr. Nicholas Nissen, director of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, described the surgery: “This is a complex operation where we remove what’s called the head of the pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, the gallbladder and the bile duct,” Nissen said. “After removal, these structures are reattached to restore normal function.”
Because chemotherapy and radiation reduced Philip’s tumor size, Nissen performed the surgery robotically rather than through large incisions. “This allows us to make smaller incisions, with lower risk of complications and a shorter recovery time for the patient,” Nissen said.
After four days in hospital and two additional months of chemotherapy, Philip was declared free of cancer in June.
Shortly after this news, Linda learned she had breast cancer following a routine mammogram. Dr. Robert Figlin, interim director of Cedars-Sinai Cancer, emphasized early detection: “As a health system, we focus on screening and are always developing new ways to detect cancer early,” Figlin said. “For both of these patients, early detection was key to the best possible outcome.”
Linda underwent breast-sparing surgery performed by Dr. Armando Giuliano, director of Breast Surgical Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer: “She had a screen-detected cancer that has no symptoms. You can’t feel it. It causes no pain, no discharge,” Giuliano said. “The only way you can detect a cancer like that is with breast cancer screening. And those cancers are the smallest cancers—the cancers that are the easiest to cure.” He added about her lumpectomy: “We remove the area of the breast that has cancer, all the way around so that we have clean margins,” Giuliano said. “And then we do an internal reconstruction to make the breast look as natural as possible.”
Giuliano also conducted a sentinel lymph node biopsy: removing one or two lymph nodes to ensure there had been no spread beyond her breast.
Linda described her experience: “He did such a beautiful job that if you were to look at my breast, you would not know I had had surgery.”
Linda’s diagnosis was infiltrating ductal carcinoma—a type that can spread throughout the body—and HER2 positive status meant more aggressive treatment was needed.
Dr. Philomena McAndrew explained: “Around 20% of cancers have this overexpression of the HER2 protein which makes them more aggressive and at higher risk of spreading,” McAndrew said. “For this reason after Linda’s surgery we treated her with chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We followed that with radiation therapy and Linda did incredibly well throughout each of these steps.”
McAndrew also recommended using a cooling cap during chemotherapy to help prevent hair loss—a suggestion Linda appreciated: “I’m so thrilled that I did,” Linda said. “Dr. McAndrew told me that when women lose their hair it’s very traumatic. When they look in the mirror they realize how sick they are. Fortunately that didn’t happen to me and I was so grateful.”
Linda finished radiation treatment in January; she will continue preventive therapy for five years while both will have regular follow-up screenings.
They plan to spend time with friends before taking a cruise together later this month.
“We’re going on a cruise to Hawaii at the end of February,” Linda said. “We’re just trying to pack some fun into the next 20 years.”
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is located in Los Angeles and has served patients since its founding in 1902 under current president Thomas M. Priselac; according to its 2022 annual report it admitted more than 50,000 patients for treatment last year (https://www.cedars-sinai.org/).
