Thank you Wildfire Magazine for another informative & sensitive article... I have a few friends who would agree

"Being metastatic is just awful luck, not something a person did or didn't do" - and 9 other things the MBC community wants you to know.

Excerpt from Article: 

If you're like me, you like concrete how-tos, clear directions, tried and true recipes, do this not that, that sort of thing. There is nothing so frustrating as wanting a map of a new place and not having one. That's how I have felt the last several years when it comes to breast cancer awareness and Metastatic Breast Cancer. I want to know specifically how to be a good friend to those with MBC.

Lacking the map, I've decided to simply ask. So, recently I've spent a lot of time talking to women with MBC, asking how I -- an early stager -- can support & advocate for women in the breast cancer community whom have been diagnosed Stage IV. The women I talked to were very happy to help me and now I have for you (and me) this list.

1. Being metastatic is just awful luck, not something a person did or didn't do. Many with metastatic breast cancer are diagnosed de novo metastatic, which means some men and women are diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer from their first diagnosis of breast cancer.

2. People with Stage IV are mentally in a different space than early stagers. "If I seem insensitive to an early stager's experience, it's because I'm over here preparing my young children for my death. While an early stager puts treatment behind them, I'm pleading for my treatment to just last another 6 months. And while an early stager is posting all about how hard of a year they've had, but then it's over and everyone is dressing in pink and dropping off casseroles and walking in their honor on Mother's Day, I'm over here drowning. All of my old friends have forgotten me, all of my metastatic friends who "get it" have died. And no one has brought me a casserole or asked how I'm doing in months."

3. Don't buy people with MBC pink stuff. Most don't identify with the "pink" crowd. Instead, spread awareness for Stage IV and the fact that 116 with MBC die each day.

4. MBCers are in treatment forever, until there are no more treatments. "I have a very good friend that had Stage II breast cancer that is always asking if this is the last treatment for me. I want to scream, I just told you three weeks ago that I would have treatment indefinitely!"

5. MBC is very isolating. Check in with your MBC friends, even if they are "just" online friends. "I don't know how many times I've cried because I feel so alone or like people don't care. Watching Stage I-III women get this out pouring of support makes me wonder if I just have the wrong friends."

6.  The median life expectancy with MBC is 3 years, but appears to be improving due to research. "Know most stats are from awhile back and more and more of us are living with MBC, so we're in a gray area that's yet to be determined." 

7. Get past the pink hype and focus on research. "You do not need to donate money (although the cost of a latte given to METAvivor is always welcome!) but instead call your member of congress to increase NIH funding, or tell them NOT repeal the ACA but rather work to improve it, or pass legislation to rein in outrageous drug costs."

8. Understand how frustrating it it is for those with MBC to hear people say they are "cured" of their breast cancer. "The threat is not currently present and I hope it will never return, but people who put their heads in the sand and act like MBC will never happen to them are my pet peeve. Don't get me wrong, I HOPE that no one else ever has to deal with this awful disease, but don't think just because "they caught it early" you don't have to worry anymore. Unfortunately, one in 3 men and women diagnosed Stages 0-III will face a metastatic recurrence. Always keep up treatment and regular checks (but know that mammograms are diagnostic tools, they no not prevent breast cancer or metastatic breast cancer." 

9. Stage IV means constantly grieving: for themselves & for their friends with MBC.

See the article (you can request temporary free access) and sign up to this brilliant magazine here: 

https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/hot-flashes/2017/10/26/10-things-your-friend-with-metastatic-breast-cancer-needs-you-to-understand-now?fbclid=IwAR3lXE9ZQQ5ximUoeDn5IEw8qGFlfE2oO42ZzKcrYee7mExURI5_4oTZVeg