Our MBC Life

Jumping hurdles to get the treatments you want is the reality for people living with MBC. Add systemic racism into the healthcare mix and it’s clear that more needs to happen, and soon, to create equity and greater diversity in one of the most important tools in the MBC toolbox: clinical trials. In this episode, we check in with Stephanie Walker, who led the BECOME project and spearheads the Black Wo(Men) Speak Symposium, patient advocate and clinical trial participant Rev. Dr. Tawana Davis, and Patient Navigator Valarie Worthy. How does systemic racism affect what Black patients learn about MBC clinical trials? And how can those who need it most break down barriers to the best care?

What does it mean when our cancer shows progression? And how do we know when that happens? The Our MBC Life team gets the lowdown from Dr. Stephanie L. Graff.

All of us approach life and death from the perspective of our faith, family, and culture. This episode of Our MBC Life is an open discussion with the hosts and faith leaders on grief, loss, and end-of-life. Hear messages of love and hope from those at the front lines of faith and spirituality, whatever your faith or spirituality may be. We recognize that all of us approach life and death in general from the perspective of our faith traditions, our family cultures, and the traditions and culture we choose as adults. All this shapes how we approach our end-of-life planning.

What can we, as patients, do to strengthen our communication and relationships with our oncologists? This episode of Our MBC Life, the first in our MBC 101 series, includes perspectives, insights and suggestions from both sides of the critical doctor-patient relationship.

How does one do things right at the end of life? There are many ways to answer this question, as varied as all of us.

Co-hosts Victoria Goldberg and Dr. Paula Jayne sit down with neuro-oncologist Dr. Priya Kumthekar to talk about leptomeningeal metastases: what they are, how they are treated, and what research is upcoming, including a discussion on ANGled, the new Phase 3 trial for MBC patients newly diagnosed with leptomeningeal metastases.

This episode has something for everyone – not just those of us living with MBC or a terminal diagnosis. All of us have experienced a wide range of loss and grief from the last 2 years of life under a pandemic. In this second installment of our focus on Grief and Loss, host Lisa Laudico speaks with leading social scientist, family therapist, professor, and writer Dr. Pauline Boss about all of her research and her latest book, The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic & Change.

The future of personalized care for those living with MBC is already here, and it is happening in Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Timothy Pluard, Medical Director of the Kansas City’s Saint Luke’s Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer joins the podcast to talk about how he and his team create an individualized, completely comprehensive plan for each woman.

This interview doesn’t shy away from the hard conversations that MBC patients have when diagnosed. Lara MacGregor, founder of Hope Scarves, spoke with the pod before she passed in January, and she shared the unvarnished truth of declining well with hope. Always hope, as she would say. We also speak with April Stearns, founder and editor of Wildfire Magazine and The Burn Podcast, who had been working with Lara on her book “A Hopeful Life”.

Join Co-host Sheila Johnson for a very special panel in honor of Black History Month. Sheila speaks with Rev. Dr. Tawana Davis, Ricki Farley, Kellee Southern, and Stephanie Walker. We’re digging into what it is like to be a Black woman seeking medical treatment for breast cancer or metastatic breast cancer, and what these incredible women are doing to improve health equity for Black women and men.