August 25, 2020
October 13 is Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Awareness Day
Did you know October is designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Of course you did. Did you know October 13 is designated as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day? It is. I'm betting you did not know.
If you know of anyone who died of breast cancer it was because they had metastatic breast cancer. Every person who gets breast cancer (yes, men can and do get breast cancer) and survive that cancer has a 20-30% chance of it coming back and being metastatic. Think about that. It means that every 2-3 of 10 people who get breast cancer will die from the disease. Yet, only 2-5% of all funds raised for breast cancer go toward research of metastatic breast cancer and a true cure. You read that correctly. Breast cancer awareness is estimated to be a $6 Billion industry (annually). A fraction of that actually goes to supporting early detection and research for treatment for early stage cancer and a very small part of it goes to research to find a cure.
So, that's pretty depressing.
However, there are several organizations that are doing great work to both raise awareness of metastatic breast cancer and raise money for research. Of course, I'd personally prefer that NIH (National Institute of Health) and CDC (Center for Disease Control) would lead the effort for research so it was not influenced by for-profit industry. Regardless....
Metavivor is a favorite organization of mine that is dedicated to supporting metastatic breast cancer research.
Moore Fight Moore Strong is an organization founded by friends and family of young woman (32) who succumbed to breast cancer. This org has the #LightUpMBC event where they have secured landmarks in all 50 states that will light up in the colors of the metastatic breast cancer ribbon (teal, green, pink). The goal is to raise awareness of and support for this disease. Check their website to see if there is a landmark near you. If there is, take a photo and sent to me and the Moore Fight Moore Strong organization.