This was my first time participating in this fundraiser. Listening to the speakers and learning more, I was emotional and hopeful.
"The special concert will feature local favorites Ike and Martin. It will be an evening of good music, good food, and good friends as money is raised to fund desperately needed metastatic research."
So why this event? What I learned is if you know someone who has died from breast cancer, they died from metastatic breast cancer. “Metastatic” means the cancer has escaped the breast and traveled to distant sites, like bones, lungs, liver, or brain. Cancer that stays in the breast does not kill. Approximately 6 percent of initial breast cancer diagnoses are metastatic, and approximately 28 percent of women and men with early-stage breast cancer will become metastatic; the median life expectancy after a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer is only 36 months, and in 2022 over 44,000 Americans will die due to metastatic breast cancer.
Despite this reality, the large breast cancer fundraisers only give a small percentage of their research funds to studying ways to help the already metastasized patient. Many experts believe we are on the cusp of making metastatic breast cancer a chronic disease, if only there were more money to do the research needed to develop effective treatments. METAvivor, a non-profit organization with a volunteer board (the majority of whom have metastatic breast cancer themselves), directs 100 percent of donations to such metastatic research.
Here comes the hopeful part... Since 2009, METAvivor has funded over $20 million of vital research, including $9+ million in the midst of a pandemic when larger, better-known organizations suspended their research grant programs!
So amongst cancer warriors and survivors, friends gathered to celebrate hope, dance a lot, and experience the JOY that is Ike and Martin. Here's a 40 second teaser to share just a little of the musical magic.
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