Change October to Metastatic & Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This petition will be presented to the NBCAM Collaborating organizations to change October to Metastatic & Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There is NO CURE for Metastatic Breast Cancer (Stage 4 or MBC). One person dies every 13 minutes from Metastatic Breast Cancer. Every October there is a group that goes unnoticed in a sea of pink. That group is composed of the men and women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer or MBC. Metastatic Breast Cancer is stage 4 breast cancer where the disease has spread to distant metastases, primarily to the bone, lungs, lymph nodes, liver and brain. Ironically, Susan G. Komen died of MBC and yet very few people even know that MBC is different from Early Stage Breast Cancer. There is no cure for MBC. The median survival after diagnosis is 3 years. There has been no statistically significant improvement in the past twenty years. Only 2-3% of research funds goes to finding a cure for MBC, yet 30% of Early Stage Breast Cancer patients metastasize and die. So, lost in a parade of pink, no one sees the isolation, the despair and the hopelessness of those afflicted with MBC. By referring to October as Metastatic & Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it will raise awareness of MBC and encourage more research funding towards Metastatic Breast Cancer (ideally 30% for 30%) and ultimately raise standards of care for ALL stages of Breast Cancer and end this horrible disease.