This post is an installment of our profile series featuring participants, loved ones, advocates, and team members of the MBCproject. Thank you to all who have shared their voice and stories.
Today's profile features Laura Williams.
Q1. In your own words, can you share with us your reasons for joining the Metastatic Breast Cancer project (MBCproject)?
I felt it was important to be a part of a study that can help shed any light on MBC, whether it be tumor research, genetics, treatment or support for others. Also I trust the Broad Institute @ MIT and Harvard.
Q2. Please tell us what being a part of the MBCproject means to you.
I feel like I am being proactive in the research and development of improved outcomes for MBC patients and my hope is that if I can help in any way, no matter how small, then I can rest easy knowing I've done what I can.
Q3. If you'd like to share, please tell us how it felt when you were diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
To be totally honest, I felt like I was defeated.
I was first diagnosed at the age of 48. I had a career, four great children and a supportive husband. I didn't have time for cancer so I didn't think about the treatment, it was something I had to do and Iworked into my life. I took the prescribed AI for 5 yrs and moved on. At age 59, 11 years later, my routine mammo was abnormal again. That time I had bilateral mastectomy, chemo and went back to work on yet another AI. I knew this tumor was high grade and I knew I would probably see MBC in my future but I was busy, our children were getting married, graduating from college, my parents were aging, my husbands and I were retiring, etc.
Three years later and one year into retirement, I noticed increased shortness of breath while doing simple activities and...there it was, MBC, and I felt defeated. I don't feel that way anymore, I, like so many others, have moved on to being more pro-active about my overall health, my knowledge of the disease and I work every single day to try to not lose myself in the emotional turmoil that comes with this diagnosis. I am a work in progress.
Q4. In a few words, can you please share with us your hopes for the future of metastatic breast cancer?
I hope that MBC can become a true chronic disease for all subsets and across all ages in both men and women. My dream is that MBC can be cured and that maybe I could play a small part in making that happen.
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