Profile: Paula Chenevey

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 Paula Chenevey.

Q1. In your own words, can you share with us your reasons for joining the Metastatic Breast Cancer project (MBCproject)?

I am still alive, 4 years after receiving a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer, due to research and the people who chose to participate in it. It is very important to me to pay it forward, be a part of something larger than myself, and contribute to the greater good. I also consider it a way of acknowledging and thanking those that have come before and have made my extended life possible.



Q2. Please tell us what being a part of the MBCproject means to you.

Please see above answer.

Q3. If you'd like to share, please tell us how it felt when you were diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.

It had been nine months since I had had my last herceptin treatment, I was feeling healthy and strong. My 3 sisters and I were on our way to join two other HER2+ breast cancer survivors to compete in a mud run fundraiser for breast cancer research. We were on the road, in an unfamiliar part of rural Pennsylvania, when I had a grand mal seizure. It was 3:13 pm on Friday the 13th. I lost consciousness and when I woke up, I was in the back of ambulance, on the way to the local hospital. I immediately knew...cancer had metastasized to the brain. When the CAT scan confirmed it, I looked at my sisters and said, "I really am going to die."

Q4. In a few words, can you please share with us your hopes for the future of metastatic breast cancer?

I hope to see women, and men, with metastatic disease living long, full, healthy lives. I hope to see us learning more about the intricate process of metastasis itself...why, how, who, when, where. I hope that we are able to take what we learn about breast cancer metastasis and apply it to other cancers.

Thanks to programs like MBCproject, we are changing the face of cancer.