She is my friend, my former co-worker. She is in her sixth year of having metastatic breast cancer.
Diagnosed initially with invasive breast cancer at 32, shortly after giving birth to her second child, she had a double radical mastectomy followed by over a year of chemo treatments. Cancer-free for 16 years, her breast cancer came back with a vengeance.
Diagnosed as metastatic, she began oral medications, going through several before running out of oral options and being put on IV chemo every three weeks. Her life has a repetitive pattern…chemo treatment followed by about a week of debilitating side effects, which keep her pretty much house-bound. She jams as much living, as she feels up to, into the next two weeks, before the next round of chemo.
I have witnessed her strength in going through treatment. I have been awed by her courage when hearing that a particular medication is no longer keeping her cancer at bay, and it is time to try still another. She hopes that there will continue to be new medications, ones that she hasn’t tried; ones that will allow her to have a quality of life while extending her life.
My friend is one of 159,000 women and men in the U. S.who are living with metastatic breast cancer. I share the following metastatic breast cancer awareness message in recognition and in support of those who are living with breast cancer, and, for whom, active treatment is a way of life.
In support of Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day on October 13, MedImmune Specialty Care Division of AstraZeneca is launching the My+Story website: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/63080-astrazeneca-metastatic-breast-cancer-awareness. This site contains a video featuring women living with metastatic breast cancer, an infographic, a shareable metastatic breast cancer awareness day badge, and a screenshot of the My+Story awareness day page Key web links: My+Story Awareness Day page: http://www.mymbcstory.com/awareness.aspx o
The site also contains links to patient support groups that have specific programs for patients with metastatic breast cancer-Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC)<http://www.lbbc.org/> and Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (MBCN)<http://www.mbcn.org/>.
Throughout October, AstraZeneca will make a contribution to LBBC and MBCN each time visitors share content from this site with their social networks! My+Story Resource Center: http://www.mymbcstory.com/ o contains content tailored for women living with metastatic breast cancer and the people who support them.
During October, supporters of women with metastatic breast cancer can visit MyMBCStory.com/awareness<http://www.MyMBCStory.com/awareness> to inspire members of their community to help raise awareness of the disease. Interactive features allow visitors to share their favorite images and information from the site with others via Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
