Barbara Jacoby wrote and article for the Huffington Post entitled, "What are we doing about metastatic breast cancer?" She made some very broad statements, most of which were not based in fact. She accepted comments on her article, but when she started getting too many from metastatic patients who vehemently disagreed with her opinions, she opted to delete all comments. The following is what I posted before she deleted it. I posted it four times and she deleted it four times. The original article can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-jacoby/post_8602_b_6252014.html?fb_action_ids=1574405382795718&fb_action_types=og.comments
"As someone who has lost 11 personal friends to metastatic breast in the past year alone, I do not take comfort in the "progress" that has been made. As a woman with Stage IV (terminal) breast cancer, I do not take comfort in the fact that the death rate due to metastatic breast cancer hasn't changed significantly over the past few decades. Last of all, most of the research done for Stage IV breast cancer, rapidly becomes more about early stage diagnoses. Your claims are simply very wrong.
"Though treatment advances have extended the duration of survival, advanced breast cancer remains almost uniformly fatal. Consequently, the principal goals have been to improve the length and quality of life for patients." http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOn…/BreastCancer/48627 (I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have a cure, than just a lengthening of life.)
"From the same article: "In part, the lack of progress can be traced to the inherently slow pace of clinical development, said guideline co-chair Fatima Cardoso, MD, of the Champalimaud Cancer Center in Lisbon, Portugal. The traditional approach to clinical research has been to begin with patients who have metastatic breast cancer and then move the evaluation of promising therapies to earlier stages, effectively ending research in patients with advanced disease."
"I encourage you to read more about what you are writing about. I don't know where you get your statement that early stage research also applies to advanced stage research, but most of the time, that simply isn't true. It's usually the reverse that is true.
"When "breast cancer awareness month" became a month-long party more about making profits based on pink sales, metastatic breast cancer got lost even further. People don't want to hear our voices and we're called party poopers for wanting more attention. If I had my way, I'd make October all about metastatic breast cancer (without the "cutesy pink boobie" crap) with one day being set aside for a huge party for those who are disease free.
"I hope you never are diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. I really do. If you are, I think your song and dance will change as you will look at it through different eyes. There is NOT enough research for a cure. I want more than that pink ribbon and I want more than a lengthening of my life. I want a cure."
"As someone who has lost 11 personal friends to metastatic breast in the past year alone, I do not take comfort in the "progress" that has been made. As a woman with Stage IV (terminal) breast cancer, I do not take comfort in the fact that the death rate due to metastatic breast cancer hasn't changed significantly over the past few decades. Last of all, most of the research done for Stage IV breast cancer, rapidly becomes more about early stage diagnoses. Your claims are simply very wrong.
"Though treatment advances have extended the duration of survival, advanced breast cancer remains almost uniformly fatal. Consequently, the principal goals have been to improve the length and quality of life for patients." http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOn…/BreastCancer/48627 (I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have a cure, than just a lengthening of life.)
"From the same article: "In part, the lack of progress can be traced to the inherently slow pace of clinical development, said guideline co-chair Fatima Cardoso, MD, of the Champalimaud Cancer Center in Lisbon, Portugal. The traditional approach to clinical research has been to begin with patients who have metastatic breast cancer and then move the evaluation of promising therapies to earlier stages, effectively ending research in patients with advanced disease."
"I encourage you to read more about what you are writing about. I don't know where you get your statement that early stage research also applies to advanced stage research, but most of the time, that simply isn't true. It's usually the reverse that is true.
"When "breast cancer awareness month" became a month-long party more about making profits based on pink sales, metastatic breast cancer got lost even further. People don't want to hear our voices and we're called party poopers for wanting more attention. If I had my way, I'd make October all about metastatic breast cancer (without the "cutesy pink boobie" crap) with one day being set aside for a huge party for those who are disease free.
"I hope you never are diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. I really do. If you are, I think your song and dance will change as you will look at it through different eyes. There is NOT enough research for a cure. I want more than that pink ribbon and I want more than a lengthening of my life. I want a cure."
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