breast cancer I bet you haven't heard of

This is Deena Metzger. It's a famous picture of her, post-mastectomy, with this underneath: "I am no longer afraid of mirrors where I see the sign of the amazon, the one who shoots arrows. There was a fine red line across my chest where a knife entered, but now a branch winds about the scar and travels from arm to heart." (You can see the tattoo over her mastectomy scar). 

Since I know people are reading this, I want to take this opportunity to mention something very important to me. I know breast cancer awareness seems to be everywhere - so much so that you really need to be wary of the "tyranny of pink" and all the marketing - but a certain type of breast cancer often gets ignored and never mentioned. Triple-negative breast cancer (sometimes also referred to as basal-like) describes a breast cancer that is estrogen-receptor negative (ER-), progesterone-receptor negative (PR-), and Her-2/neu negative. What this means is that the hormone therapies like Tamoxifen, Arimidex, and even Herceptin don't have any effect on this cancer. Hormone therapy is not an option. These cancers tend to strike younger women and women of color, and are usually more aggressive and more likely to metastasize. But, that being said, they are very responsive to chemotherapy. Unfortunately, that and radiation (although you have to be careful of previously radiated fields) are the only options if it recurs/spreads. But no one ever mentions this type of cancer. I mean, honestly - before you read this post, did you even know about it? Have you ever heard of it? I'm willing to bet you haven't. So while I'm very happy we now can use Evista as a hormone-therapy drug and there are all these hormonal options, what about the women for whom that doesn't make a difference? 

The Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation is a wonderful organization that raises awareness of this disease and raises money to help scientists research it further.  Too often it gets ignored, and that's not right. (And I am fully aware that MANY cancers get ignored because they're not as "fashionable" as breast cancer awareness is, but that's a whole other post). 

I just found this website, too, that raises awareness of triple-negative breast cancer.

So please go to their website, look around, and tell people you love about this. I know it sounds hokey, but it's really important.