From Guesswork to Precision: A Breakthrough in Breast Cancer Care
- Surviving Breast Cancer
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
By Jim Foote
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, First Ascent Biomedical
Hear from Jim Foote on the SBC podcast, Breast Cancer Conversations:
Cancer picked a fight with the wrong guy. A phone call delivered three words that changed everything: “Jim, it’s cancer.” In that instant, the world I knew had vanished. My 15-year-old son, Trey, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer, and overnight, we found ourselves in a foreign world of brilliant doctors and compassionate nurses, all working to save his life. Trey endured nine months of grueling chemotherapy after his osteosarcoma diagnosis. When he finished chemo, he underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and we celebrated that victory together.
Unfortunately, just three months later, an aggressive 5 cm lesion returned behind Trey’s knee. That was when the difficult decision was made to amputate his leg. Despite this, Trey bravely began a new treatment regimen, and once again, when the cancer was gone, we allowed ourselves to celebrate.
Heartbreakingly, within six months, Trey’s cancer returned again, this time spreading to his pelvis and lungs. Ultimately, Trey lost his life to cancer, but his courage and resilience remain with us always.
With Trey’s recurrences, it became painfully clear how few tools were available to guide Trey’s oncology team when the standard of care fails. Despite billions spent on research, cancer treatment remained a process it had been for forty years: trying, waiting, and hoping.
As a technologist who has spent a career using data and AI to solve complex problems, this realization hit hard. Where it mattered most, cancer treatment was still largely trial and error. That moment set me on a new mission: to bring precision to a fight that has relied on guesswork for far too long.
Why Trial and Error Doesn’t Work in Cancer
For decades, oncology has maintained a one-size-fits-all approach. Patients are categorized by broad diagnoses, such as breast, lung, or colon cancer, then treated with therapies shown to work on average. But cancer isn’t one disease. It’s thousands, each driven by unique biological behaviors that can differ dramatically from one patient to another.
Progress has undoubtedly been made—breast cancer deaths have steadily declined thanks to advances in early detection and therapy. However, the American Cancer Society’s data reveals that breast cancer incidence is rising by about 1% per year. Two people with identical breast cancer diagnoses may respond in completely different ways to the same drug: One might see their tumor shrink while another sees no change at all. This is not because one is stronger or more fortunate, but because their tumors are biologically distinct. Even within established subtypes like triple-negative or HER2-positive breast cancer, tumors behave uniquely. As a result, countless patients endure rounds of ineffective therapies before finding the right one, if they find it at all.
For someone already experiencing the physical and emotional toll of breast cancer, uncertainty can be overwhelming. Every failed round of therapy means more side effects, more time lost, and more emotional and financial strain.
A Foundational Shift: From “Try and Hope” to “Test and Treat”
Functional precision medicine (FPM) redefines cancer care. Where genomics provides the sheet music—the theoretical blueprint—FPM tests how a patient’s tumor actually performs in response to therapies. Here, AI is the conductor: listening, analyzing, and adjusting the performance in real time.
Instead of guessing which drug might work based on genetic markers or the standard of care, functional precision medicine (FPM) directly tests a patient’s living tumor cells against hundreds of FDA-approved drugs in the lab. Within days, doctors receive data showing exactly which treatments kill the cancer and which ones do not. Robotics and automation have transformed this process, reducing the time and labor required from hours to minutes while improving quality and reliability. The integration of AI enables physicians and hospitals—even in rural communities—to deliver advanced, individualized cancer therapy without the traditional barriers of cost or access.
For breast cancer patients, especially those facing recurrence or resistance to earlier treatments, this approach can be transformative. Instead of moving blindly from one treatment to another, patients and doctors can see which therapies are most likely to work before the next treatment even begins. It’s a shift from “try and hope” to “test and treat.” A prospective study conducted among 25 patients from 2019 to 2022 demonstrated that 83% of patients who received FPM-guided treatment had an improved best overall response. Additionally, with FPM, treatments start sooner, and side effects decrease through the elimination of ineffective drugs. This isn’t the future; it is today’s reality.
The Power of Data and the Heart of Humanity
Technology alone doesn’t heal people. But it gives doctors and patients the information they need to make better decisions faster. The true power of FPM lies not in replacing clinicians, but in empowering them to act with clarity. When oncologists access real-time data from a patient’s own tumor cells, they’re no longer forced to choose between uncertainty and delay. They can act with confidence.
For families, this means more days spent living—fewer hospitalizations, fewer futile treatments, and the return of cherished everyday experiences. I’ve seen patients once told there were “no options left” returning to school, to work, to life. That’s the kind of transformation this approach can bring.
Scaling Access Through AI and Robotics
Is such personalization scalable? It’s a fair question—yet, in the not-so-distant past, reusable rockets seemed impossible until new visionaries challenged conventional wisdom. Just as SpaceX reimagined aerospace innovation, the convergence of AI and robotics is rapidly making advanced cancer precision care both accessible and affordable to more patients.
What took hours of painstaking manual laboratory work can now be automated and analyzed rapidly, delivering precise testing once available only in elite research hospitals to smaller clinics across the country. For breast cancer patients who cannot travel for trials or second opinions, this represents a fundamental change in the landscape of care. Every patient, regardless of geography, deserves the opportunity for the most informed and effective treatment possible.
The Importance of Emotional Precision
When my family went through cancer, the hardest part wasn’t just the science. It was the silence of not knowing what would work. Every test, every delay, carried a weight that words can’t capture. Millions of families face these same questions: Will this work? How long will it last? What happens next? FPM offers not only superior data but also peace of mind. It helps families move from fear to focus, from uncertainty to understanding. Because when you can see what works, hope stops being abstract. It becomes evidence.
Redefining Hope Through Evidence
We often talk about cancer in terms of survival, but survival is just the start. True healing happens in the quiet moments between appointments when patients can rest, recover, and rediscover joy. Every day not spent in a hospital bed is a victory. Every drug that can be safely eliminated—one that doesn’t help—is progress.
The future of oncology is not about replacing physicians. It’s about giving doctors superpowers, tools that combine biology with computational precision so they can deliver with human compassion. Moving from best-guess medicine to data-driven care gives patients, including those with breast cancer, the fairest chance at recovery, and the highest quality of life.
A Future Within Reach
Imagine a world where every doctor knows which drugs will work before treatment begins—a world where breast cancer patients never have to hear the words, “We just have to wait and see.” That world is no longer a dream. It’s being built right now through functional precision medicine, robotics, and AI.
Cancer taught me that time is our most precious commodity. Through technological innovation, medicine has the power to restore more birthdays, more celebrations, and more second chances. By advancing from guesswork to precision, we don’t just change medicine. We change lives.
About the Author:
Jim Foote is the CEO and Co-Founder of First Ascent Biomedical, a company developing AI-driven Functional Precision Medicine platforms to personalize cancer care. A lifelong technologist and entrepreneur, Jim began his career building data and decision systems before focusing on healthcare after losing his son, Trey, to cancer. His mission is to ensure every child facing cancer has access to data-driven, individualized treatment options.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-foote/
Read More:
On the Podcast: Breast Cancer Conversations
This AI Is Changing How We Treat Cancer—Personalized Medicine Explained
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