Amanda Bingman’s Story: Courage, Community and the Fight Against Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Amanda Bingman has spent her entire life in Garfield County, deeply rooted in the Garfield RE-2 School District, where she serves as Director of Special Education. Known for her humor, warmth and dedication, Amanda leads a remarkable team and is surrounded by a close-knit circle of family and friends.

But in February 2024, Amanda’s life took an unexpected turn.

Amanda performed a regular self-exam on her breasts and discovered a lump in her left breast. With no family history of breast cancer and being only 39 years old, she immediately contacted her primary care provider and, within days, underwent a mammogram and biopsy.

By the following Monday, Amanda received her diagnosis: stage 2 triple-negative breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cancer is a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer that accounts for about 10–15 percent of all cases. It tends to grow and spread more quickly and is more common in younger women, those with BRCA1 mutations and individuals of African or Hispanic descent.

Amanda caught the cancer early, but she was eager to begin a treatment plan as quickly as possible. To do so, she reached out to Valley View, where she had been born and always felt at home. She was quickly connected with the Calaway-Young Cancer Center and breast surgeon Dr. Elizabeth Brew (since retired). Dr. Brew anticipated that Amanda needed surgery, but first recommended chemotherapy to shrink the tumor. Oncologist Dr. Maria Dungo joined her care team, and Amanda began chemo in April 2024.

Amanda’s treatment plan included chemotherapy for six months, followed by a lumpectomy. During the gap between her last treatment and surgery, the fast-growing tumor reappeared, nearly the same size it was at the outset of treatment. In October, she underwent a lumpectomy, and the surgery successfully removed the cancer with clear margins and no lymph node involvement. This was followed by 35 treatments of radiation.

Amanda was placed on a maintenance chemo pill for six months to ward off reoccurrence. However, in March 2025, scans revealed the cancer had returned in six new spots, including her vertebrae, lung, and lymph nodes.

Amanda’s care team pivoted quickly. Radiation oncologist Dr. Lauren Kropp joined her cancer team again, and a new chemo plan was initiated. When back pain worsened, scans showed the treatment wasn’t working. Amanda underwent five treatments of radiation targeting two spots in her spine, which relieved the pain.

Despite the setbacks, Amanda continued working full-time. Her resilience was bolstered by a powerful community of women who supported her from day one. She leaned on them and found strength in their solidarity.

“The support, and the way people have shown up for me, is absolutely amazing,” she says. “I have a great community of women around me. Women supporting women is a beautiful thing. I leaned on them from the beginning and they’ve walked alongside me the whole way.”

As Amanda continues her treatment, she credits Valley View with providing exceptional care from the infusion nurses who navigated difficult chest ports, to the volunteers who brightened her days. She also found healing through acupuncture with Steve Shomo and emotional support from the remainder of the Calaway-Young Cancer Center team.

“Valley View continues to be an awesome place to receive care,” she says. “From the doctors to the staff, it’s full of great people who support you.

“Cancer is scary,” she continues, “and this is something I will fight forever. Triple negative never goes away. But it’s also livable. I caught it early, and the lessons I’ve learned are priceless.”

Amanda continues chemotherapy, but her goal remains clear: fight with everything she has. Triple negative breast cancer is relentless, but so is Amanda.

“The things I’ve learned through this journey are priceless,” she says. “It’s amazing to me that you have to go through something so hard to learn so many valuable lessons.”