Beyond the Pink Ribbon: How Cancer Culture Is Turning Breast Cancer Awareness Into Action

Beth Love, Co-Founder of Cancer Culture and stage IV metastatic breast cancer patient advocate joins eHealth Radio and the Cancer Information and Health News Channels. Listen to interview with host Eric Michaels & guest Beth Love discuss the following: Beth, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but Cancer Culture is encouraging people to think beyond pink ribbons and awareness campaigns. As someone living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, why is this message so important to you, and what do you want people to understand about metastatic breast cancer? You and Rachel Burns founded Cancer Culture in 2022, and your mission is deeply personal. Tell us about your own breast cancer journey, how the organization came to life and why you decided to focus specifically on funding research for metastatic breast cancer. Cancer Culture has raised more than $600,000 in the last year, and what is especially remarkable is that 100% of donations go directly toward research, without deductions for operating expenses. How have you been able to accomplish this, and why is funding curative-intent research so critical? Cancer Culture has found a unique way to combine fashion with fundraising. Your seventh annual New York Fashion Week Runway Experience featured breast cancer patients and survivors as models and raised an impressive $200,000 for research. What makes this event so powerful, and how are you continuing that momentum through your new Shaneli jewelry collaboration? For someone listening today who wants to make a meaningful difference, what can they do to support Cancer Culture and metastatic breast cancer research? And what gives you hope that we can one day change metastatic breast cancer from a terminal diagnosis into a manageable or curable disease? Beth Love is a mom, wife, artist, entrepreneur, and metastatic breast cancer patient advocate. Diagnosed de novo with Stage IV lobular breast cancer in 2014 at age 34, she was told there was no cure and given a two-year prognosis. Beth has spent more than a decade pushing for greater urgency, visibility, and investment in metastatic breast cancer research. She previously served as President of METAvivor, is a graduate of the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s Project LEAD program, has served as a patient reviewer for the Department of Defense CDMRP, and has represented the patient voice at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and other national forums. She also created the award-winning #ThisIsMBC and #StopOutBC campaigns. In 2022, Beth co-founded Cancer Culture with Rachel Burns, building a patient-led organization focused on funding metastatic breast cancer research with curative intent. Her mission is laser focused, to move beyond awareness, put patients where decisions are made, fund research with urgency, and help create a future where metastatic breast cancer is no longer terminal. Website: cancerculture.org Facebook: facebook.com/wearecancerculture Instagram: @wearecancerculture People also listened to this: Regenerative Medicine and the Future of Breast Reconstruction