About Us

The MBC Assistance Group was created by patients and family members who through advocacy, support groups, and “life experiences” have identified serious day to day needs for families who, unfortunately, have been touched by Metastatic Breast Cancer. Metastatic Breast Cancer is Breast Cancer where circulating cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body.  It is the Breast Cancer that kills.  The one there is currently no cure for.  It is physically debilitating, painful, and before it takes the life of your friends or family members, it will empty your pockets, turn your life and the lives of your loved ones upside down and inside out!  We are all now thoroughly “AWARE” ad-nauseum, through are all kinds of Breast Cancer runs, advocacy and education charities with lots of pink items for sale and cute slogans about “finishing this.”  The God’s Honest Truth is that only about 2% of all “Breast Cancer” funds collected actually goes toward the Breast Cancer that kills, yet ONE THIRD (1/3 OR 33%) of ALL the women and men who get breast cancer will become Stage IV victims or diagnosed Stage IV from the get go.  That includes funds earmarked for drug research and clinical trials as well as awareness and education.  How can 2% really help anyone in a significant fashion?  IT CANNOT!  People with Metastatic Breast Cancer have an estimated survival rate of 3 to 5 years!  During this time we scramble to find drugs and treatments to try to give us as much time as possible with our families.  Some have young children, some with kids getting into or going to college, spouses and parents that count on them…it’s not enough time. We MATTER just as much as those who will get breast cancer and thankfully be cured (or think they are cured because you never know when it can come back, and it doesn’t matter if it was “caught early” at an “early stage.”  It can come back and does 1/3rd of the time!).

Breast cancer most commonly spreads to the bones (which is excruciatingly painful), lymph nodes, liver, lungs and brain, but can travel to other places like stomach, skin, ovaries, uterus and more.  There are several variations and each person’s experience is pretty much unique to them and their genomic makeup which also means not all drugs will work for everyone as well or for as long, or at all!  What we have in common is the need for drugs that will extend our time on earth, and the tragic way this disease eats away at our quality of life.  Those who were working will eventually have to go on disability and give up their jobs.  Expenses for the increasing number of specialists you will need to see in every field due to side effects of treatments for co-pays, co-insurance, uncovered treatments, payment limits for specific drugs all chip away at lifestyle and ability to meet basic needs. On top of just general “How long do I have?” questions, we have to ask ourselves “Who will watch the kids while I’m at the doctor?”  “If I get admitted to the hospital then who will take care of my family, or my pets?”  “How will I get back and forth to chemo when I’m too sick to drive or I’ve lost my vehicle because I can no longer afford to keep it?”  “Do I pay for medicine or food this week?”  While MBC Assistance Group is small and can’t at this time solve all the problems associated with MBC, we can help real people, PEOPLE WHO MATTER, one at a time.

Our immediate goals are to help ease the stress and suffering caused by financial challenges NOW and improve the Quality Of Life for those we can NOW.

Our vision for the future is to help fund research and clinical trials providing opportunities for those with Stage IV Breast Cancer to increase their time to live and make this a chronic illness (just as they have for AIDS and Hepatitis C) until a cure that crosses all types of Breast Cancer can be discovered. We will do this one need at a time, through donations, sales, charitable events. When we are gone, our families and friends will pick up the banner and carry on until there is a cure.