Living Beyond Breast Cancer Offers Diverse Patient Perspectives during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

More than a quarter million Americans continue to face a breast cancer diagnosis each year – 1 in 8 women in their lifetimes. However, the cancer journey – physically, emotionally, financially --  is distinct for every one of them. And people today have more agency than ever before to control the way they experience the disease and its treatment.

Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC), the national patient information and support organization, offers journalists covering breast cancer, expert sources in the patient experience – people of every age, diagnosis, race, gender, and walk of life.

This fall, LBBC is focused on #THRIVE365, the ways people today are living with breast cancer, how they are experiencing (or not) racial equity in breast cancer treatment, body image, reconstruction options and sexuality. LBBC is proud to provide connection to its community, including LBBC Medical Advisory Board Member and nutrition expert Rachel Beller, MS, RDN, author of a new book on nutrition and weight management tips for today's breast cancer patient.

Thrive 365: Breast Cancer on Your Own Terms

For people affected by breast cancer, awareness is not just about October, and living with breast cancer looks different on everyone. Women are taking control of their experience by making choices that express their values and individuality through practices like scalp cooling to preserve their hair during chemotherapy while others sport colorful scarves. Some are opting for DIEP flap reconstruction while others are embracing going flat. Some connect with experiences through meditation or plant-based diets, while others take up journaling or advocacy. 

Connect to members of LBBC’s community to report on how women at all ages are making the most of life beyond diagnosis, like:

• LBBC young advocate Abby started living a healthier life after her cancer diagnosis. Abby integrated functional medicine, exercise, meditation, supplements and a plant-based diet during treatment and never felt healthier. As an LBBC board member, Abby helps others access the resources and support they need during their treatment.

Breast Cancer and Health in Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups

Patients who are Black and Hispanic are disproportionately affected by lack of timely information, travel impediments, and financial toxicity related to the costs of cancer care. Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, despite having a lower incidence of disease, and Hispanic women are diagnosed on average 7 years younger than white woman. Understanding these disparities is key to ensuring that barriers are removed to care.

Connect with members of the LBBC community who can speak directly to their challenges throughout their journeys:

• Deb lives with metastatic breast cancer and knows the daily struggles around mental health, with or without cancer. An interpreter and community health worker, she supports the Latinx cancer community.

• Diagnosed with Stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma, Keneene faced rigorous rounds of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy and faced significant financial distress, fighting to keep herself and her daughter from homelessness while fighting cancer. Keneene has residual side effects five years later, and works for LBBC to support other women of color diagnosed with breast cancer.

Body Image and Reconstruction

Scars that won’t heal. Disfiguring surgery. Lymphedema. Even with optimal outcomes, having breast cancer changes the body and can effect a woman’s body image and mental health. Meet members of LBBC’s patient population to discuss topics like body acceptance after mastectomy and reconstruction, different reconstruction options, and finding confidence in fashion brands made specifically for women impacted by breast cancer.

• Connect with Anna to discuss body acceptance and fertility after breast cancer diagnosis at 27. Anna pursued a full mastectomy and reconstruction and is passionate about helping women with breast cancer thrive after surgery through self-care, fashion, and body confidence.

• Ginny boldly displays her scars after opting for a bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation when learning she had stage 1 invasive ductal carcinoma in 2019. Ginny, who chose to forgo reconstruction, lives happily as a flat woman and shares her beauty perspectives with others.