Time for a new treatment

Hi Amanda

Enough has been said about the Pink October thing and awareness on this and other forums. For those living with Stage 4 disease we need research in this area. American women are signing off their posts with "enough of this disease, it's time for a CURE!" They are starting to lobby for what Amanda is talking about.

From a study being done by Robin L Anderson PhD at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, I think titled "Dormancy - the late onset of secondary tumours in breast cancer", it has been discovered that -

"While it has been thought that tumour spread is a relatively late step in breast cancer, there is evidence now that tumour cells are shed into the bloodstream at a very early stage of the disease."  These cells remain dormant and can survive with minimal nutriment supply and they can evade the body's immune defences. At this stage they are not overtly harmful to the patient. This research is aimed at finding what causes them to stay dormant, what switches them on again to regrow and which gene controls this dormancy.

With findings like this it is obvious that this disease is a continuum and we should ALL be clamouring for more research regardless of where we are on the continuum - Stage 1 to Stage 4!

When I first recoverered from all the initial treatments following a breast cancer diagnosis I wanted to be a mentor and help other women through their journey but this was not possible through the recognised cancer organisations because I was Stage 4 from the beginning so I have gone the advocacy route. This has opened up a whole new world to me and I can sense a change coming, possibly driven by women like us!

Best of luck on your new treatment Amanda, I know Xeloda is a fantastic Chemo and very easy to tolerate.

With love

Joy K