Metastatic Breast Cancer Day 2016

Today, October 13th is Metastatic Breast Cancer Day. I wish it truly could be a one day or even a one year event. Sadly, for those of us with Metastatic Breast Cancer, it is a lifetime event because we will NEVER be cured and our treatments will continue for as long as we live. Once the drugs stop working, we will die. That’s why I have begun calling it Terminal Breast Cancer. The American Cancer Society found that metastatic breast cancer rates have been steadily increasing in young women (ages 25-39) since 1976. Breast cancer is particularly aggressive in young women and has a median survival time of 2 to 3 years after diagnosis. Alerting young women to pay attention to changes in their bodies is one of the reasons I started Bald Ballerina. Young women do not get routine mammograms; we are the ones who find the lumps and then need to persuade doctors to order mammograms or sonograms.

I recently wrote an article about my terminal breast cancer for a new publication: No Compromise magazine. The entire October edition is devoted to breast cancer. For the entire magazine visit www.nocompromissmag.com