Wednesday, October 14, 2015

i'm aware. are you?

Circulating on Facebook, posted by the late Lisa Bonchek Adams


Yesterday was Metastic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. This is official in the United States but not in Canada. 

I should have written about this yesterday but I was busy getting treatment, which I do every 4 weeks and will continue to do until it stops working. 

Despite a liver that once had "more tumours than you can count" and two brain malignant brain tumours, I have been very, very lucky. As per the graphic above, the median survival of someone with a diagnoses of metastasis is three years. It has been almost 10 years since my original diagnoses and 9 since I learned I have mets.

This October, as we are awash in a sea of pink, I ask you not to go bra-less on my account, get cutesy about where you leave your purse and I don't want to know the colour of your bra, if you are wearing one. And please don't buy pink crap or anything just because it is festooned with a pink ribbon.

Inform yourself for real. Educate others. Donate if you can, to where you money will go the farthest.

In the United States there is Metavivor and the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network. 

In Canada, we have no group devoted exclusively to metastasis but the Canadian Breast Cancer Network has taken on a strong advocacy role and outreach role.



2 comments:

Jim's Girl said...

Well done, Laurie! I thought it was recognized here to, but perhaps that was just for a single day last year. May we both continue to be outliers in this experience. All the best! ~ Kate, of Kate Has Cancer

laurie said...

It's only a single day - October 13 but not officially recognized by the feds. It occurs to me that this is not the only route. The rest of us can recognize it without the government doing so!