This National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October 13th was Metastatic Breast Cancer Day to recognize the most advanced stage of breast cancer. Here with a special breast cancer update is someone living with metastatic breast cancer, Pam Kohl, and a top medical expert, Dr. Jeremy Force.
Metastatic Breast Cancer is when it's spread beyond the breast, usually to the bones, liver, or lungs. It's currently incurable and over 40,000 women die of it in the US every year. However, Susan G. Komen is leading the efforts to find new cures and treatments to improve the quality of life for those who have it.
"Metastatic breast cancer is smart, tenacious, and does not like to give up," says Pam. "It will hide there and then at the next scan...we call that our 'scan-xiety' to find out whether it has grown and where it's grown."
Pam will be on treatment for the rest of her life and knows they will fail. She will continue to try new treatments and rely on science and research to prolong her life. She says it's been hard on her family, but they work to create intentional memories and lessons on resilience. She will not give up, and neither will they.
Susan G. Komen is making strides to improve the lives of people in the same situation as Pam. There are collaborative efforts with some of the brightest minds in the world working on future treatments and making strides to improve the outcomes of Metastatic Breast Cancer patients.
You can click here to learn more about the research being done, and also find information about financial assistance if you or a loved one has MBC.
