In the US, the majority of the country is considered rural. Researchers and policy officials employ many definitions to distinguish rural from urban areas, using rural-urban classifications adopted by NCI. An estimated 15% of the U.S. population and approximately 74% of the area is considered rural. Residents of rural areas face serious challenges related to socioeconomic disadvantages, limited access to quality healthcare, long travel times, and low recruitment to clinical trials, all of which affect quality of care and health outcomes. Health disparities are exacerbated by the lack of health ..read more

Today we are bringing you a special episode that we created in partnership with SHARE Cancer Support. It’s an audio version of a live webinar that was done this past February called Report Back from San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium 2023. SABCS is the world’s leading breast cancer research meeting where scientists, patient advocates, and others dedicated to working in the field of cancer gather. In this podcast, Dr. Timothy Pluard highlighted promising research, targeted therapy, the evolving treatment after CDK 4/6 inhibitors, liquid biopsy and more. Subjects and Terms Included in This Epi ..read more

We wanted to start this season with an episode dedicated to our friend and team member, Natalia Green. Natalia passed away from MBC at the age of 39 on November 29, 2023. She was an integral part of the podcast team, having been a senior producer/host and right-hand woman to Lisa Laudico, our founder. She became involved in the podcast through her advocacy work, starting first after her early-stage breast cancer diagnosis, then becoming more involved in the metastatic breast cancer community after she received her MBC diagnosis. She was a devoted mother to her daughter Rosy and son Iggy, and a ..read more

Dar’s Lesson 4: Finding Joy in Celebrations The winter holidays are here, bringing all the joyful festivities with them. I thought this might be a great time to chat a bit about the joy of celebrations - the good, the bad, and the ugly. I know many of us right now are scurrying around with the Christmas and New Year holidays at the top of our mind, but today I’d like to spend more of our focus, not only on the typical winter holidays, but on all the myriad of celebrations we encounter in our lives. We will reflect on how we love them, how we dread them and how we can experience joyful celebra ..read more

For many of us living with MBC, travel provides a much-needed respite from the day-to-day realities of living with our disease. But balancing trips with treatment and side effects can be challenging. In this episode, you hear from members of the OMBCL team, along with some remarkable MBC frequent flyers as they share places they’ve been, the places they want to go, and the advice they have for those times when a journey really is a journey. We hope you’ll find inspiration and encouragement for your own Adventures. Travel Resources Travel Insurance: Compare products at InsureMyTrip Note: To ins ..read more

Research for triple negative breast cancer is growing, but current treatments still continue to fail the vast majority of people living with triple negative MBC.  Data from the National Cancer Institute gives a five-year relative survival of only 12.8% of women diagnosed with triple negative MBC. Those women have what's called an exceptional response to treatment; more simply, we call them “unicorns” – beings that can bring wonder & hope.  The stories of well-known triple negative MBC unicorns such as Karen Peterson and Barbara Bigelow bring inspiration.  Today, we share the ..read more

Lisa Manning and Tony Laudico met in Tokyo, Japan where they were both working at the time. It was a serendipitous encounter of a Canadian and an American, and the beginning of their version of a modern fairy tale romance. They lived happily for 27 years in many countries around the globe and made thousands of memories with their extended families, friends and two wonderful sons.  But unlike many fairy tales that end when a couple dies on the same day after a long life together, Tony’s and Lisa’s fairy tale had a different ending.  Lisa Manning Laudico died on August 6th 2022 af ..read more

Dar’s Lesson 3: Gratitude With the holiday season fast approaching, it is a great time to talk about gratitude and how important it is to have a joyful life. Making gratitude a part of your life, just like breathing, is such a huge help if you are searching for joy. But you can't just conjure up a life lived in gratitude. - unlike being thankful, which exists in the mind, gratitude is an appreciation that comes from the heart. It has to be cultivated and practiced. Today's Think Joy Thursday explores ways to do this and even offers some helpful hints to make joy a habit in your life. Meet th ..read more

Young Adults & MBC is an episode that explores the lives of those diagnosed under the age of 40 with Stage IV breast cancer. First up, our Senior Producer, Natalia Green, interviews Angelica Valadez, initially diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2020 then diagnosed with MBC in 2022. Next, she interviews Sooz Stever, a YSC State Leader for Utah diagnosed with early stage TNBC in 2016 and MBC ally, dedicated to improving the lives of those living with metastatic breast cancer. We’ll discuss how we as young women focus on finding a community, overcoming obstacles and learning to navig ..read more

Barbara’s Lesson 7: Thinking about the nature of a group with women with metastatic cancer and the issues and the struggle that brings up for all of us, as well as of course, all of the other ways in which life has blessed us, so today we will sit and just open up to the truth of our lives A young woman once said to me not long ago, she said, “You have to have faith.” I was very unhappy at the moment. I said, “Faith in what?” She said, “Faith in your life, that we all, each of us needs to have faith in our lives. But we're living the life that's been given us, the truth of the life that we ar ..read more