Six years ago, I thought I had a pretty good vocabulary but I didn’t know the meaning of “metastatic” until I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
According to the American Cancer Society, only 15 per cent of women with mets will still be alive 5 years after their diagnosis. I’m one of the lucky ones ( stats are bogus anyway).
I think one of the reasons I get so angry at campaigns aimed at “saving [insert infantile name for ‘breasts’ here]” is that, for those of us with metastatic breast cancer, the breast was only the beginning. Our cancer has spread to our bones, brains, liver, lungs or skin. We are “the bad girls of breast cancer.”
And we want you to know about us.
We are:
Delaney
Kristina
Susannah
And we remember:
Mothers With Cancer 
Your post really hit home with me. As a 4-yr survivor of IBC and not metastatic yet, I know that the odds are that I may have MBC at some point. I accept that as truth. What I’m having a hard time accepting is the fact that in the past 2 weeks, my online support group has lost 5 or 6 of its IBC women. I’ve cried, screamed and even said some bad words. What made me say the bad words was a woman on one of the BC sites who told another woman that she didn’t have to worry about her BC diagnosis because “no one dies of cancer any more”. Well then, why are my friends dead? I was so mad when I read that, and I really hope that woman was just trying to make the other one feel better. We need much more research into IBC and MBC and soon, and much more education about them.
Thank you, Laurie.
Laurie,
I am reading your posts and relate so much. I was diagnosed while pregnant with now 2.5 year old. I am her 2 + and have had brain and bone involvement. My heart function went down to 55 last time and I ride horses and run a big household. This is the 1 st time I have reached out for support from others that are moms thick in the battle. I usually do great withmy attitude but have gotten a bit freaked lately. How do I best communicate with you and others?
This is a pretty hard diagnose and Laurie it is good not giving up.
[…] to research, and to share what we’re learning with the rest of the world. The #cancerrebels and pink protesters I’ve linked to in the past and new blogs I find every day are standing up for […]