Breast Cancer’s a TKO for Financial Trader Kalliope Dontas

Kalliope Dontas, 49, is a full-time proprietary and derivatives trader with a focus on the technology sector. With her dog, Apollo Creed, by her side, she spends her days in front of six 32-inch screens navigating the markets. She says she “feels amazing,” and is a “different kind of happy,” since a battle with chronic disease set the stage for a self-fulfilling “Rocky” story.

As the pandemic was waning, a series of events sent Dontas into an “emotional shutdown.” When she started having a pain in her breast, she attributed it to normal hormonal changes. That is, until she received a reminder from Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) that she was due for a routine OB/GYN exam and made an appointment.   

During her exam with obstetrician gynecologist Ann Marie McDermott, MD, with LVPG Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dontas says she saw the clinician’s eyes widen above her mask and knew something was wrong. Dr. McDermott had found three masses in Dontas’ right breast. Due to their location, she referred Dontas to Lori Alfonse, DO, Deputy Physician in Chief, Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute. Dr. Alfonse performed a surgical biopsy and the pathology indicated stage 1 breast cancer. 

“When I got the diagnosis, I felt numb, like I was in bubble wrap,” says Dontas, who has no family history of breast cancer. “Luckily, I have a great team of doctors at LVHN that caught it,” she says, “and the diagnosis snapped me out of my emotional purgatory.”

Dontas had multicentric disease, which means she had cancer in more than one quadrant of her breast, requiring mastectomy for surgical treatment. She opted for a bilateral procedure (both breasts), which is a choice for women, even though the lifetime risk for getting breast cancer in the opposite breast without a gene mutation is less than 5 percent. 

“We ordered a test called Oncotype DX to determine the benefit, if any, of chemotherapy for her type of tumor,” Dr. Alfonse says. “The score came back as 2, which is very low, and the benefit of chemotherapy would have been less than 1 percent. Her lymph nodes were also negative. Because Kalli’s tumor was hormone receptor positive, she is taking endocrine therapy (tamoxifen) to reduce her risk for cancer recurrence.” 

In January 2023, Dontas began breast reconstruction surgery with Randolph Wojcik, MD, Chief, Division of Plastic Surgery, Lehigh Valley Institute for Surgical Excellence. The team remembers her coming out of surgery freestyle rapping, reminiscent of Rocky’s euphoric dance at the top of the Philadelphia Art Museum steps. Her last of five surgeries was completed in June 2024.

“There’s no doubt that Kalliope is a fighter. Throughout her journey with cancer, surgery and reconstruction, she encountered numerous challenges and emerged victorious,” Dr. Wojcik says. “Her struggle, like that of many others, was not only physical but also mental. Addressing the mental aspects of this disease played a crucial role in her triumph.”

During the pandemic, Dontas became interested in the financial markets. She worked hard at trading but continued to take every mistake to heart. Then she looked closer at successful traders. “They see loss as an opportunity, and that takes them to the next level,” says Dontas, who was on the verge of entirely changing her life. “If you have that mentality, you can get through anything.”  

That’s when she “pulled out the stops” and got serious about trading professionally. “Trading is performance-based. It’s close to being a professional athlete without playing a sport,” she says. “Your psychology, diet, sleep, exercise and who you surround yourself with matter. I learned that those rules also apply to life and my battle with cancer.”

She adds that resilience is also important. “If I do not change my strategy when the market changes, I’d be lost. It’s the same with cancer,” she says. “We women in the Lehigh Valley are fortunate to have this great team fighting for us. But we have to fight for ourselves, too. And that starts with the way you think and how you live your life.”