Tag: self-care

Cancerversary #6

July 24, 2025

Six Stars Tattoo for Six Years Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer

On July 10, 2019 I found a lump in my right breast. Seventeen days later, July 24, 2019, I was told that I had breast cancer that had already spread to my bones, liver and adrenal gland. This came after 9 years of annual mammograms that were “not positive for cancer.” My most recent was 9 months before I found the lump. In 2020, the breast cancer spread to my brain. 

I have received radiation for the tumor on my adrenal gland and one in my shoulder bone. I received five rounds of SRS (radiation) to my brain. I have infusion treatments every three weeks and will for the remainder of my life. I have had three rounds of gamma knife to brain tumors and recently had laser ablation of the newest brain tumor – my 12th one. 

Since my diagnosis I have learned that I have extremely dense breast tissue that makes it much harder to see breast cancer on a mammogram AND is a significant risk factor for developing breast cancer. A person with dense breast tissue has a 60% higher risk for developing breast cancer than a person without dense breast tissue.. How I wish I had known this before my diagnosis. I had never heard of breast density and didn’t know I should have been receiving additional screenings each year in addition to my mammogram. 

Did you know that there are scarce resources dedicated to researching Metastatic Breast Cancer? 

I am raising money for METAvivor because 100% of their funds go to researching Metastatic Breast Cancer – the only breast cancer that kills. I need research to find new treatments to extend my life. 

This is a link to my fundraising page.

https://donate.metavivor.org/fundraiser/5554408

Advocacy Alert: Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act

Urge Your Representative to Cosponsor the Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act The Metastatic Breast Cancer Access to Care Act would amend the Social Security Act to eliminate waiting periods for social security disability insurance benefits (SSDI) and Medicare coverage for eligible individuals with metastatic breast cancer. Under current law, a person with metastatic breast cancer must wait five months after applying for Social Security Disability benefits to begin receiving those payments. Also, that person must wait an additional 24 months after disability benefits begin before receiving Medicare insurance coverage. This delay creates obvious hardships for people with metastatic breast cancer as they struggle to pay medical expenses. This delay also ensures that many people with MBC are unable to collect the benefits they paid into the system because of their reduced lifespan, currently averaging 33 months after diagnosis. 


This delay affected me personally and caused financial hardship. I had to live without a paycheck for 5 months before my disability began. I struggled to continue working my job to delay those five months for as long as I could. I had help from some friends and family members to help us get by those five months, but we still used up all our savings. I want to help those facing the same diagnosis to not also have to fear financial ruin. Please help me in this fight. 

Go to this website: https://www.stopbreastcancer.org/what-we-do/policy/find-tools-to-take-action/#

You will be asked to fill in your address and zip code. From that info it will identify who your elected officials are in a new page. After you see this information, hit the back button to return to the first page and select the purple “Take Action” button. This will take you to a page that has form letters already written to your elected officials. You can modify the text if you want using the “edit messages” button on the left.