Pink is everywhere this month. From the flags the refs throw at my 4th grader’s football games to the shoes NBA players wear to super cool basketball’s like the one Owen’s friends gave him after my diagnosis.
I am thankful for Nancy Brinker, who started the Susan G. Komen Foundation after her only sister died of breast cancer. It’s because of her that we see pink all over the place in October. Also because of her, a lot of money has made its way to breast cancer research. I have peace in knowing that 99% of women who find their cancer at the same stage as mine are healthy and cancer free 5 years after treatment. (And I know many who have lived decades post-cancer never to see it return.)
But there is something about breast cancer that I didn’t know prior to my diagnosis. There is no cure for Metastatic Breast Cancer (Stage 4). Women with this diagnosis will be in treatment for the remainder of their lives to slow the growth. To halt the spread. But it will never go away. Cancer will always be fighting against the drugs to overtake their body. And that makes me sad.
After I was diagnosed, I found a woman online named Mandi who wrote a blog called Darn Good Lemonade. She was diagnosed with cancer at age 31, and died of the disease in April of this year. I read her blog and watched her youtube videos and felt a sense of loss when she died even though she had no idea who I was.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I am sharing a link to a page on her blog that details several organizations that do research on Metastatic Breast Cancer treatments.
Metastatic Breast Cancer Research
If you are compelled by all the pink to donate some money to breast cancer research, check out these organizations. Mandi knew from experience that they were doing good work. And I trust her judgment.
