Joy Lonibos, was diagnosed in 2015 with stage three breast cancer. After finding out the news, she underwent surgeries and treatments, leaving her both physically and mentally drained.

“I worried that I wouldn’t be beautiful to my husband any longer,” Lonibos said. “Although we’d been married 25 years at the time, I was insecure about that. I was insecure about how people would look at me when I was first diagnosed with cancer.

“About a week into it, I noticed that people were not looking me straight in the eye. When they spoke to me, they were looking at my chest like you were going to see the cancer through my blouse?”

“But it was a real thing, I felt as though when I walked around people could see the cancer in me, and I just wanted it gone.”

This is how many patients with breast cancer feel, before and during the process. But, fourth year biochemistry student, Danielle Gipson, is in the process of making a breakthrough for breast cancer patients.

“The overarching goal of our research is to find a way to stop the tumor growth of triple negative breast cancer cells,” Gipson said.

In Louisiana the rate of women with breast cancer is 130.4 cases per 100,000 people, which is a 0.6 increase compared to the national average. The state also has a poverty rate of 18.6%, which is higher than the national average of 11.5%. This causes there to be fewer treatment resources for women with breast cancer.

“I really am passionate about science communication and healthcare education as well, so even if a woman can’t go to the doctor, she knows how and when to do a self breast exam,” Gipson said. “She knows how to know when there’s something wrong with her body, so that then she can advocate for herself.”

Cancer treatments don’t just affect people physically, but it has a lasting effect on them mentally.

“I felt so much less of a mother when I was going through treatment because I couldn’t take care of my kids and do the things that I normally did,” Lonibos said. “So, anything that can help to avoid that, as a mom, that would be amazing.”

Gipson’s research is not only supposed to decrease the amount of death rates for breast cancer, but bring back hope within patients like Joy.