stage 4 needs more

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Emily

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Emily

“I knew very little, especially about metastatic breast cancer. I never considered myself at risk, and certainly didn’t know the statistics, like that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer in their lifetimes, and 30% of those diagnoses will metastasize, and that metastatic disease only receives 7% of funding for research but still has a life expectancy under 4 years and kills 114 people each day.”

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Jeanine

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Jeanine

“I had never, ever, in my deepest of life’s depression, considered suicide. My very first chemo dose in 2017, the steroids hit me so bad, I was refusing to go back. I was able to look my (at the time) four year old right in the eye and think she was better off without me. I’d never been in that spot before, or even remotely considered it, and it was educational. I went back and immediately talked about how it felt and we cut the steroids. Everything after that. . . . was kind of bearable. I learned to accept how I cope with things, that showing off and feeling awful are ok, and so long as I get up the next day, I might as well do it again. What else am I doing, anyway?”

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Noelle

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Noelle

"I don’t like the term 'fighter' or 'war' or 'she lost her battle'. I have cancer. It is part of me. To say it’s a war implies I am at war with myself. And I am not.Cancer is like a passenger in a car. Sometimes it sits quietly in the back, sometimes it back seat drives, sometimes it the passenger, and sometimes it’s the driver. No matter what, I feel like I’m driving on flat tires, but at least I’m moving forward.
Cancer might kill me some day- But NOT TODAY!”

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Lianne

Tenured Breast Cancer Student- Lianne

"I try to create awareness for my stage 4 diagnosis that it’s chronic. I am not going anywhere the coming years, that’s what I hope and feel... And for me to stay here even longer, I need people to donate for more research to find a cure. I wish people understood that currently there is no cure. I believe in miracles, and I always say out loud for the universe to hear it; There will be a cure for me. I will celebrate my 50th birthday!"