The spending justifications for girl math are funny. But they just aren’t real. And oddly, this type of rationalization reminds me of how many doctors dismiss younger women when they believe that they have breast cancer. I know this because it happened to me. This is how I see girl math being applied to breast cancer.

When the topic of national pharmacare made a resurgence in 2018, the Canadian Breast Cancer Network (CBCN) continued advocacy for an equitable and comprehensive approach to national prescription drug coverage. We have advocated that a national plan should provide Canadians with better access to life-saving medications than they currently have and improve equity of access nationally, so the newly announced legislation for a universal, single-payer, phased approach is a welcomed first step.

I grew up as the daughter of a mother who battled lymphoma for 10 grueling years, only to be taken away by leukemia in the end. As a teenager, I accompanied her through this harrowing journey, unaware that I was accumulating PTSD along the way. Health and wellness became my fixation, a supposed guarantee against cancer. But this obsession was rooted in fear – fear so profound that I avoided having children, terrified of subjecting them to the horrors I witnessed with my mother's treatments.

Treatment can be difficult for this type of breast cancer. Without receptors, triple negative tumors do not have the proteins they need to respond to common breast cancer treatments like hormone and targeted therapy, which are used for hormone-positive or HER2-positive breast cancer. Research shows that some people have a greater chance of developing triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) if they are subject to certain risk factors. 

“Are you going to freeze your eggs?” I was asked this question multiple times when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer.  Yes, I still had my monthly period and no, I wasn’t in menopause. But I was 47 years old, so the query felt out of place. When I’d remind the doctors of my age they’d sigh and say, “Oh, right. You look younger. So do you think it’s something you’ll want to do?” Umm, no. A hard no. Divorced, single and edging towards 50, starting a family by myself was not something I wanted.

When I received the news that I had breast cancer, my world seemed to crumble before my eyes. Overwhelmed, vulnerable, and defenseless, I faced a daunting journey ahead. As a seasoned business owner, I had encountered my fair share of adversity, but nothing could prepare me for this level of fear. For the first time, I found myself fearing the unknown, dreading the loss of everything: my health, my quality of life, my business, and all my assets. How could I possibly endure this?

2023 was a year of many changes, and CBCN’s work reflects that. In this post, we look back on some of the many activities and projects that we participated in, developed, or updated. With each development, CBCN is committed to ensuring that breast cancer patients and survivors are the driving force of the organization and that their views and concerns inform our priorities.

There was an abundance of promising new research that came out of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Here are some highlights for metastatic breast cancer. Be sure to check out our early-stage highlights.

For me, hearing these words felt like I was falling into a deep pit that I had no way of crawling out of. My diagnosis wasn’t something I could negotiate or talk my way out of either—two things I am fairly good at. This lack of control and inability to change my situation hit me hard. I had to accept that cancer was my new reality, and this filled me with fear. The feelings that followed oscillated between depression and anxiety—and they weren’t fleeting.

CBCN had the pleasure of attending the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December. Below you’ll find the latest research for early-stage breast cancer. Watch out for the latest research on mBC.