Most are aware of breast cancer now--just not metastatic breast cancer

You can't miss Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. You see more pink than orange and black now. But with all the breast cancer awareness going on, there is a large segment of patients who still feel forgotten.Today marks Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, a single day in an entire month where we are encouraged to honor those living with the disease--approximately 155,000. As seen with breast cancer, awareness leads to understanding, funds, research, and more treatments. The Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (www.mbcnetwork.org), an organization exclusively dedicated to metastatic breast cancer, pushed for recognition of this day last year and it continues to grow. MBCN will host its national conference this Saturday in Indianapolis. The organization brings the nation's top experts in metastatic breast cancer and advocates to speak during the conference, which is free to attendees. There is growing recognition of women living with metastatic disease, including the prominence of MBCN, the online forum site BCMets.org, the informational and support website AdvancedBC.org, and a new online community called Share the Little Things. The site launched this month and provides a visual and inspirational forum for women with advanced and metastatic disease and their family and friends. For every message or image contributed to the site, the pharmaceutical company Abraxis BioScience will donate $1 to the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network and Living Beyond Breast Cancer (up to $20,000).One metastatic breast cancer survivor wrote on the site: I've been living with metastatic breast cancer since my first diagnosis 5 and a half years ago. Its never been easy, but I try my best. I work with my doctors. And I haven't stopped living. I find the trick to living with cancer is to not let it take over. It's a struggle, I wont deny that. But I keep up with my volunteer work at the park thats definitely one of the little things I enjoy every week. I'll be 57 this year and most of the other volunteers are 20 or even 30 years my junior. LOL. If thats not surviving, what is?CURE dedicated a feature honoring three women living with metastatic breast cancer in "Dancing in Limbo." Although it was published in the Summer of 2008, we still get comments about the article. More than 150,000 women are out there living with metastatic breast cancer, just like Lilla Romeo, Ellen Hoffman, and Susan Langley. CURE honors those women and their families today.