While
attending the reception and dinner at May 8, 2015, Komen Blogger Summit with fellow bloggers and Komen's social media
team, conversations continued on Metastatic Breast Cancer while speaking
with Komen Founder, Nancy Brinker. Although it is not common in the U.S., 5% of newly diagnosis women will be diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer. Nancy Brinker touches on this area saying,
"...we
need help developing the kinds of stories and keeping passion alive
with the people who want to tell these stories and making them real and calling the media to accountability to make sure this is kept high and near...
...at
the end of the day, if we don't do these things, we don't keep this
issue to your point, the 5% of the people, and they don't know people
still got it, you're right, people, they think that everybody is just
gonna walk in the park and they are just gonna live with it..."
Komen's recently advocated to Congress for more funding not only for breast cancer research, but the need for more biomedical research
support in general, increasing the NIH budget. Another issue Komen discussed was oral parity... to take a pill
that can make a difference in quality of life while going through treatment. Dense breast and different kinds of screening were also discussed as well as disparities in breast cancer.
"It means that we, our voices
together can make a difference. Elevate the conversations as we say, we
can really bring people together and make them more aware." _ Dr. Judith Salerno
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| Komen Founder, Nancy Brinker |
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| Nancy Brinker speaking on Metastatic Breast Cancer |
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| Nancy Brinker and Melissa Paskvan |
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| Nancy Brinker gladly signed our photo from last year |
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| Me and my personal hero, Nancy Brinker |
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| ...and Nancy signs my copy of her book, Promise Me |
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| Me with my blogger friends, Komen Grantees and Nancy Brinker |
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| Together Stronger, Thank you for tweeting Nancy! |
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| Dinner discussion with Dr. Judith Salerno, CEO of Komen |
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| Nancy Brinker introducing British singer, Matt Goss to us |
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| I go to shake Matt Goss hand and he says that he's a hugger :) |
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| ...and he smells good too! Matt Goss and Melissa Paskvan |
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| Melissa Paskvan and CEO and President of Komen, Dr. Judith Salerno |
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| Me with Komen Marketing team, Rhasheda Boyd and Tracy Mueller |
While I was attending the Komen Blogger Summit in DC, I was also invited as a VIP guest of Komen, where we had a continental breakfast while WWE's, Hulk Hogan, Komen's Founder, Nancy Brinker and Komen's CEO and President, Dr. Judith Salerno spoke to us survivors and supporters of Komen's Mission. British Singer and Songwriter, Matt Goss took stage and really got the crowd pumped up with his hit song, "Strong" that has now become the "Survivor Anthem" for Komen for the Cure. Matt Goss amazed me when he belted out his powerful lyrics of "Strong" that was written and dedicate to his Mum while she was going through chemotherapy for her breast cancer, who unfortunately had since passed. Matt Goss has partnered with Susan G. Komen to help raise funds for their organization with donations for downloading his song, "Strong." Here is a link to a video I recorded from my camera of Matt Goss' amazing performance at DC's Race for the Cure : https://youtu.be/_d1yPJSeMSk 
