The metastatic community has been overlooked and ignored for far too long, especially in the area of research. For many years, the focus for research studies similar to the Dr. Susan Love’s Research Foundation’s (DSLRF) “Collateral Damage Project", has been in early stage breast cancer patients. METAvivor believes that the quality of life for metastatic breast cancer patients is extremely important.
This year, DSLRF launched the MBC Collateral Damage Project, specifically with the quality of life of the metastatic breast cancer patient in mind. The results of an earlier study by the DSLRF yielded, “MBC patients have a significantly diminished quality of life (QOL)”, versus those who experienced an earlier stage primary breast cancer. This finding shifted the focus of the project to the metastatic patient, seeking to find the issues that plague patients and ways to resolve them, improving our overall QOL.
DSLRF has assembled a team of “Provider-Survivors”, made up of oncology healthcare professionals who have been affected in some way by cancer themselves, as well an “Advocate Task Force” of patients living with MBC, who will work to gather information and assemble a list of recommendations with the sole purpose of combating the issues we face, and to increase the QOL of the MBC patient.
If you are living with MBC and would like to take part in this groundbreaking project, we encourage you to participate in the questionnaire. The survey asks questions about several different aspects of your personal MBC experience, to include questions about your “physical, functional, psychological, emotional, social, vocational, and financial conditions”. This combined information will help the DSLRF team aid patients in improving overall QOL, while giving medical professionals and the general public, insight into life as a MBC patient.
To participate, follow the link to survey:
https://www.drsusanloveresearch.org/welcome-mbc-cd-project
While we realize that much of Dr. Love’s work has been in prevention of breast cancer rather than treating metastasis, METAvivor supports the Collateral Damage Project initiative of Dr. Love and the DSLRF. Although research is the primary goal of METAvivor, we also exist to “help improve the longevity and quality of life for MBC patients”, and this project certainly fits that mission. It is our hope that all of you living with MBC will participate and help move this project forward.
