Are you familiar with metastatic breast cancer? Don’t be embarrassed if your answer is no… 50% of Canadians don’t know about it either. And that is exactly why it is more than time to talk about it! Metastatic breast cancer is thousand of faces all over Canada. For me, mBC is Nalie (28), Mei-Lin (53) and Julie (37), three extraordinary women that I’ve had the chance to meet through my own experience with cancer.
As you might know, I had breast cancer in 2010, but I was lucky because it was Stage 1, the earliest stage of the disease. Even though I was young, I still had to go through chemotherapy, 30 sessions of radiation and 5 years of hormone therapy… but during all that time, I knew that my cancer was curable.
One word that makes a world of difference.
Unfortunately, this word doesn’t exist for women who have metastatic cancer. As of right now, there are still no treatments to cure this cancer, which kills an average of 12 women every day in Canada… another reason why it’s high time to talk about it and step up the research and support! I can hear you thinking « but there are so many fundraisers for breast cancer…” That is true, but the proportion of funds allocated for metastatic breast cancer is unfortunately much (much) lower than the rest.
That’s where the It’s About mBC Time campaign comes in, which is back for a second year. An initiative of the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Breast Cancer Network, Rethink Breast Cancer and a leading research-based pharmaceutical company in Canada, the campaign aims to raise people’s awareness of metastatic breast cancer so that it gets a larger share of research, funding, resources and support.
At the heart of this campaign we meet Nalie, who has metastatic breast cancer at 28. I’ll let the video speak for itself…
I have watched this video several times, but I tear up every single time. Nalie’s honesty is overwhelming and the concept is powerful. In the space of a few minutes, she shows us how a diagnosis of metastatic cancer can turn a life upside down.
If my words did not convince you, I know that Nalie will have. On behalf of Nalie and all the other women who have metastatic breast cancer, I urge you to go to www.mbctime.ca and share the campaign’s powerful video using hashtag #mbctime.
Remember how it impacted you and share it with all your friends. This is how we can begin to make a difference.
Lolitta xx
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This post is presented in collaboration with the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, the Canadian Breast Cancer Network, Rethink Breast Cancer and a leading research-based pharmaceutical company in Canada.
