In the United States, someone dies from breast cancer every 14 minutes. This number has not decreased significantly in nearly 40 years despite a huge movement to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. Just wearing, buying, or even walking for "pink" does not reduce deaths from breast cancer. Scientists know that research specifically focused on metastasis is crucial to significantly reduce the breast cancer mortality rate. Metastasis research is challenging for various reasons. However, the biggest obstacle is lack of funding: only an estimated 2-5% of the funds raised for breast cancer research is spent on studies of metastasis.
Each year, 200,000 Americans are diagnosed with breast cancer. Six to ten percent of these diagnoses are metastatic, or stage 4. Another 30% progress from stages 0, 1, 2 and 3 to develop stage 4– maybe immediately or maybe 30 years down the line. Science has very few answers to the reason why cancer metastasizes and we don't yet have an effective treatment to arrest metastatic growth. What we do know is that a diagnosis of Stage 4 breast cancer is not considered survivable and that almost 40,000 men and women die of it each year. This is what METAvivor is fighting to change.
METAvivor's research mission is two-fold: to increase awareness about the funding discrepancy that shortchanges metastatic research in the cancer world (see our 30% for 30% campaign), and to directly fund the kind of research that is currently lacking. With the primary goal of extending life and ending death from MBC, METAvivor awards grants for research projects that have the potential to shift MBC from a terminal disease to a chronic condition with a decent quality of life.
METAvivor is run mostly by people living with MBC, who are committed to making a difference for the metastatic breast cancer community by funding ground breaking research. METAvivor is the only US non-profit that awards peer-reviewed research grants exclusively for already disseminated breast cancer. The grants that METAvivor awards allow researchers to obtain the initial findings they need to attract larger grants or translate findings into new or improved treatments and therapies.
Prevention and early detection, the focus of much of the breast cancer research conducted in recent decades, are laudable goals. But they do no good for those who have already had breast cancer, and especially for those who have been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer - currently a terminal disease. METAvivor works diligently to raise funds for research because this is how lives will be saved. The current funding disparity is deadly for breast cancer patients, and METAvivor will tirelessly advocate for equity until 30% of breast cancer research funds are allocated to research that will ultimately save the lives of metastatic breast cancer patients.
METAvivor's grant program is overseen by breast cancer experts who have dedicated their careers to metastasis research. Applications are peer reviewed and scored by two or more reviewers who donate their time to METAvivor because of their shared goal of increasing metastatic research in order to save lives. The highest scoring applications are presented to METAvivor's Board of Directors for a final decision.
