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Online Support for Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients

October is breast cancer awareness month, but little information is available about metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients, where cancer has spread to other parts of the body. MBC cancer patients’ long-term diagnosis means that they live with many side effects and challenges daily and there is no cure.

That’s why CANSA is excited to launch our iSurvivor Metastatic Breast Cancer email support programme, written with the help of MBC patients and health experts, to support MBC patients along their journey, and based on CANSA’s original iSurvivor email support programme. We thank Pamela Randall, Rianda van Wyngaard, Rayghanah Cassim, Washiela Rawoot, Lisbe Schaanick, Mari Bezuidenhout and Sandra Janeiro-Nienaber (RIP) for taking the time to help other MBC patients, despite the challenges they experience day to day. CANSA is also thankful to Novartis for believing in this programme and for helping us to make it a reality.

The limitations of MBC patients’ condition means that they are not always able to attend face-to-face support groups and that is why it’s important to offer something meaningful and helpful online. Patients will receive weekly emails over 16 weeks helping to guide and support them with regards to coping with MBC day to day.

Some of the MBC patients who contributed to the programme share what it means to them:

Mari Bezuidenhout: “When we hear positive stories from cancer ‘survivors’, it tends to be people who ‘beat’ this a while ago and can stand in front of us today and tell us: ‘There is hope, I’m ‘cured’. You can be too.’ We don’t often hear from the ‘invisible’ patients who don’t always look sick, but who are considered terminal. So we have created this programme to bring hope and inspiration to them in the midst of this. We want to show those unlucky enough to not be diagnosed at an early stage / who progressed from early stage to MBC that there is still hope, there is still life – even after an advanced stage 4 metastatic breast cancer (MBC) diagnosis!”

Rianda van Wyngaard: “There is a need for information which Google does not fill. This journey is new and scary for us and we need all the help we can get. I would encourage any MBC patient that has just been diagnosed to sign up and take advantage of this wonderful programme.”

Lizbe Schaanick: “Support from someone in the same situation as yourself, is the best support anyone can have. We put a lot of love and care into this programme, we know it can make a difference.”

Rayghanah Cassim: “MBC patients should empower themselves and this programme is an ideal tool to get informed and educated. A problem shared is a problem halved.”

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