The other day, Katherine O'Brien shared a Pinterest board called "Metastatic Breast Cancer: Stage 4 People and their Stories." I'm not on Pinterest but I clicked through and was floored by all the beautiful and interesting people from so many different walks of life. So many are so young. So many of little kids, as I did when I was first diagnosed.
It got me thinking how much connections with others has mattered to me over the last 8 years. I looked back at some of my own lists. I looked at the blogrolls of others. And I realized that far too many of these amazing women are no longer with us.
Today's post is not about the sadness and anger I feel when I think about how many wonderful women have been lost to metastatic breast cancer and how little is actually being done to address our needs.
Today's post is about our voices. About making a new list of women who are living with metastatic breast cancer and writing about that - and so many other things.
In no particular order:
Katherine O'Brien I Hate Breast Cancer
@ihatebreastcanc
Catherine Brunelle Bumpyboobs
@Bumpyboobs
Anna Craig
@annamecraig
Lisa Bonchek Adams
@AdamsLisa
The Sarcastic Boob
@sarcasticboob
Ann Silberman Breast Cancer? But Doctor...I hate pink!
@ButDocIHatePink
Jen at Booby and the Beast
@JCampisano
Carolyn Frayn Art of Breast Cancer
@CarolynFrayn
Lulu Change Living Life Furiously
@LulyChange14
Uppity Cancer Patient
@UppityCancerP
Telling Knots
@knottellin
Kate Kate Has Cancer
@KateHasCancer
Jill Dancing with Cancer
Vicki, Inspiring Breast Metatastatic Breast Cancer Advocacy
@IMBCadvocacy
Susan Rahn, StickIt2Stage4
@StickIt2Stage4
Sarah Illingworth
@Illingpig
Victory Over BC
@MetaThriving
Phyllis
@Groz_P
Jude Callirgos
@JudeCallirgos
FUBC
@FUBreastCancer
Chantelle Chantelle's blog
Nicole Jasien Walk By Faith Not Sight
@nicolejasien
Honorary club member:
Nancy Stordahl at Nancy's Point
@NancysPoint
Nancy doesn't have metastatic breast cancer and I hope she never joins us but she supported her mother through mets, has been through treatment herself and is a "staunch advocate" for metastatic breast cancer.
The organizations that don't ignore us:
Metastatic Breast Cancer Network
@MBCNbuzz
Metavivor
@metavivor
Canadian Breast Cancer Network
@cbcn
ReThink Breast Cancer
@ReThinkTweet
This isn't the end. For our stories or for this list. I welcome additions from Twitter or the blogosphere. Just let me know.
Last winter, there was a bit of shitstorm about whether those of us living with mets had the right to be talking about it publicly. It was aimed at Lisa Bonchek Adams but lots of us took it very personally. For me, it brought a re-newed commitment to keep telling all of my story, including the parts about cancer, as honestly and openly as I can (as Lisa so consistently does, with grace, patience and clarity).
I struggled with what to call this post. I personally hate being called a "cancer blogger" because that's not all that I am. I don't even write about cancer in every post. I settled for the rather unwieldy title, above, because I think that's who we are: women, all different from each other, with interesting lives, who write about living with mets and whatever else is of interest to them. I hope to write more about each of them, in the next few months.
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