In this month's special Buddy Check 7 report we check in with a breast cancer patient who called us a year ago to say the stories we ran convinced her to have some changes in her breast checked out.

The last year hasn't been easy, but today she is cancer free and hoping to stay that way thanks in part to a medication called Herceptin.

We first met Bobbi Helgeson last summer as she was just beginning her treatment for breast cancer. As it turned out, her cancer was pretty difficult to treat and she experienced a number of complications and side effects from her treatments.

Bobbi recalls, "Tears came to my eyes a lot of times. I knew it was going to be a struggle, but I didn't know how hard of a struggle it was going to be."

With surgery, radiation and several rounds of chemotherapy behind her, Bobbi's greatest worry now is the chance her cancer will come back.

Because a number of her lymph nodes tested positive and because she is among the 25 percent of patients whose breast cancer produces a protein called her-2, Bobbi has a pretty high likelihood of recurrence.

It's a concern she's having a tough time shaking.

"Every time there's a silent moment or I'm lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, cancer's on my mind. I wonder sometimes, you know, I can beat this, tomorrow's another day, I'm gonna get through it," she says.

Her doctor, Marshfield Clinic oncologist Steven Sorscher, says Bobbi is doing all the right things to lower her risk of getting cancer again. That includes taking Herceptin through an IV once a week for the next year.

It's a medication recently made available to patients like Bobbi whose cancers produce that her-2 protein, and it can reduce her risk of recurrence by a whopping 50 percent.

Dr. Sorscher says, "Between the chemotherapy, the hormonal therapy she's receiving, which is pills and shots, and the Herceptin, her risk of recurrence is quite a bit smaller than it was after the surgery alone."

Bobbi says the Herceptin is giving her a lot of hope right now, and with a close circle of family and friends and her first grandchild on the way, Bobbi knows she has a lot to live for.

"I pray every night that I can live to see my children and my grandchild coming. I have so much to look forward to and I'm just hoping this Herceptin is what's gonna make my life longer and more fulfilling.”