Breast Cancer Vaccines Could Possibly Make a Change for “So Many”

With the advancement of cancer vaccines on the rise, Kristen Dahlgren wanted to do what she could to spread the word.

A breast cancer survivor, Dahlgren emphasized that she doesn’t want others to “go through what I’ve been through.”

Dahlgren was a longtime correspondent for NBC News before she realized her passion for advocating for cancer vaccines grew. She noted that the development of vaccines for cancer will make a significant change for “so many people.”

“If people join this movement, we [can] really support the scientists [and] the work they're doing,” Dahlgren said during an interview ahead of the 2024 Extraordinary Healer® award ceremony. “I mean, globally, we could change things for everything, both for everyone who could get breast cancer and for the families that love them.”

READ MORE: ‘Give Yourself Grace’ After a Cancer Diagnosis, Kristen Dahlgren Says

Dahlgren is co-founder of the Cancer Vaccine Coalition (formerly the Pink Eraser Project), a non-profit organization supporting breast cancer vaccine research. She noted that the organization has “taken off” and that scientists are “all on board.”

“Doctors say that we'll have cancer vaccines in 25 to 30 years. There are people out there who need them now,” she said. “So if we can accelerate that process, [in a safe way] by getting the data more quickly for the approval process, then we can get those to the people who need them sooner.”

Transcript:

When I learned that breast cancer vaccines were available, I knew that I had to do something to spread the word about it. To support the science, to fund the science if we have to, and to really move this forward. If I didn't do it, I wasn't sure who would. And so, just like when you get cancer, and you ask, “Why me?” the answer, ultimately, is “Why not me?”

It's the same thing with advocacy. Why not me? Why not me using this platform that I have, and this voice that I have, to tell people that breast cancer vaccines are in development, are close and all we need to do is to get them over the finish line. That will change things for so many people. I don't want anyone else to go through what I've been through.

I think there is a future — a very near future — where we have available breast cancer vaccines for all of us, for our children and for everybody out there.

Transcription was edited for clarity and conciseness.

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