MBCN TO HOLD ANNUAL METASTATIC BREAST CANCER CONFERENCE WITH UNC LINEBERGER COMPREHENSIVECANCER CENTER SEPTEMBER 19-21, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (MBCN)
Contact: Katherine O’Brien
Telephone Number: 888-500-0370 (voice mail)
Email Address: k.obrien@mbcn.org

Web site: www.mbcn.org

Downloadable  “Save the Date” flyer here

MBCN TO HOLD ANNUAL METASTATIC BREAST CANCER CONFERENCE WITH UNC LINEBERGER COMPREHENSIVECANCER CENTER SEPTEMBER 19-21, 2014

NEW YORK—MARCH 21, 2014—The Metastatic Breast Cancer Network (MBCN) is pleased to announce it will hold its 8^th Annual National Conference September 19-21, 2014 in conjunction with the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

“We are delighted to be coming to Chapel Hill, this fall,” says conference chair and MBCN board member Deb Tincher. “UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of the nation’s leading cancer centers—we are currently working with them to finalize the conference program, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’ll let everyone know when registration opens and we are ready to accept scholarship applications, but we wanted to give everyone this Save-the-Date notice. ”

The event opens with a reception on Friday, Sept. 19.  The main conference follows on Saturday, Sept. 20 with additional networking opportunities and breakout sessions on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 21.

The conference is open to people living with metastatic breast cancer as well as their spouses, partners, friends and caregivers. Limited scholarships are available to those who have financial need. Complete details, including registration information will be posted on www.MBCN.org when available.

ABOUT MBCN’s ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MBCN held its first conference at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 2006. Subsequent conferences have been held at M.D. Anderson, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Indiana University’s Simon Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Northwestern Medical Center. Presentations from past conferences can be viewed here.

ABOUT THE METASTATIC BREAST CANCER NETWORK

MBCN is a national, independent, nonprofit, patient-led advocacy organization dedicated to educating and empowering women and men living with metastatic breast cancer. MBCN was founded in 2004 by Jane Soyer and Nina Schulman and continues to advocate on behalf of the unique needs of all who are living with this disease. See www.mbcn.com.

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AT-A-GLANCE

The Metastatic Breast Cancer Network’s (MBCN’s) 2014 Annual Conference In Conjunction with UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

WHEN: September 19-21, 2014

WHO: People living with metastatic breast cancer and their spouses, partners, friends and caregivers

WHERE: UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, NC

MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW: www.MBCN.org

TELL YOUR FRIENDS!  Please print out this announcement and take it to your doctor’s office, cancer center, support group. Post it on your Facebook page and send to your friends.

IV is the loneliest number?

New blogger who we think is worth the read!

Hey, Breast Cancer? I Know Where You Live.

In the world of breast cancer, metastasis is a lonely business.

Of approximately 2.8 million Americans living with breast cancer, 155,000 – less than 6 percent – have the metastatic variety, or Stage IV, which means the cancer has spread to distant organs such as bones, liver, lungs or brain.

Hashtag minority.

Hashtag overlooked.

We get lost in the tangle of endless pink ribbons and cancer-free success stories. There’s no denying that early-stage breast cancer gets way more attention than chronic and incurable metastatic/Stage IV. Consider:

• The Susan G. Komen Foundation started in 1982. The National Breast Cancer Association was founded in 1991. But the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network only began in 2004 – just 10 years ago! Thank goodness MBCN founders Jane Soyer and Nina Schulman came along when they did.
• Thirty percent of breast cancer survivors will metastasize, but only 2 percent of research funding goes to…

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Remembering Our Friend and Past Board Member, Kathy Coursey-Boes

Kathy and Addie on the job for MBCN

We are sorry to share that we’ve lost  our friend and former MBCN board member Kathy Coursey-Boes. She died on February 14, 2014 at age 53. “Our hearts go out to Kathy’s family,” said Deb Tincher, vice president of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network. “She was so instrumental in educating people about this disease. The metastatic community has lost a powerful voice–we were privileged to call Kathy our sister and friend.”

Kathy died on Valentine’s Day–if we had to lose her, we are glad it is on a day filled with love and kind thoughts–just like Kathy herself. Kathy truly was a sweetheart–we will miss her soft Southern accent and her invariable “y’all.” But Kathy did not merely use “you all” as a figure of speech–it was more of a mission statement. Her heart was truly open to others.

For Kathy, a stranger really was just a friend she hadn’t met yet. “I never met Kathy in person,” wrote one Facebook friend and fellow cancer patient. “I read her posts daily and she always seemed so upbeat and happy, regardless of what she was dealing with And it was very obvious the love she had for her husband and daughter.”

“When I first met Kathy in 2009, she had just been awarded and recognized as THE PINK POWER MOM from the Kids II Foundation,” recalled Shirley Mertz, MBCN president.  “She decided to donate her prize money to MBCN because she believed that there were many women who needed the support and education MBCN provided.  How generous she was!”

Kathy, accompanied by her young daughter, Addie, was a cheerful and comforting presence at conferences, a wonderful representative for MBCN. She was a passionate advocate and instrumental in garnering support for the 2009  proclamation that established October 13th as  National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

“We requested one day in October when we would be seen and heard through the maze of pinkness,” Kathy told Coping Magazine. “Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana and Representative Rosa De Lauro of Connecticut took the lead in supporting the resolutions to declare October 13 as National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. It took many calls and a lot of footwork but the U.S. House of Representatives passed the resolutions that we proposed. We now have our day!”

“Inspiration” is a word that is often generously and carelessly applied. But there is no better embodiment of inspiration than Kathy Coursey-Boes. It was not in her nature to complain or wallow in despair or pity. She dealt with cancer in a brisk, matter-of-fact way. Whatever the complication or physical affront, she met it and moved on–always anchored in her deep and unassailable faith.

Our sincere and heartfelt condolences to Kathy’s family and friends. Please know that we will always remember her. Kathy’s bright spirit will live on in all that we do.