Morgan Stanley METAvivor Fun Walk

ABOUT METASTATIC BREAST CANCER

• Approximately 30% of early stage breast cancer survivors will have a recurrence as metastatic disease
• Metastases can occur as early as several months to 25+ years after treatment
• 685,000 people a year die from metastatic breast cancer globally
• Only 31% of U.S. MBC patients live longer than 5 years
• There is NO CURE for MBC

Metastatic breast cancer (MBC) is stage 4 breast cancer, for which there is no cure. Globally, more than 685,000 people die each year from MBC, with more than 43,000 dying each year in the U.S. alone (115 per day). Metastatic breast cancer spreads mostly to the bones, liver, lungs, and brain, causing MBC patients to be in treatment for the rest of their lives—with only 22 percent of MBC patients in the U.S. living longer than five years. Approximately 30 percent of early-stage breast cancers recur as stage 4 MBC. While 98 percent of all breast-cancer-related deaths are from MBC, less than 5 percent of overall breast-cancer funding is currently allocated to researching metastatic breast cancer.

METAvivor is the only organization that puts 100 percent of donations toward finding a cure. This is absolutely amazing, and this year METAVivor, through donations and fundraising events such as this, has been able to award over $5.7 million in research grants. We are extremely passionate about raising money for this cause and truly thank you for helping save lives by participating in or fundraising for this event.

Kelly Mahindra's Story

Hi! I am a 43-year-old wife of a Morgan Stanley employee, mother, daughter, sister, friend, pediatric pulmonologist and Stage 4, metastatic breast cancer thriver. I was nursing my daughter 3 years ago and felt a lump that seemed like a clogged duct. I had persistent back pain and after a thorough work up was found to have breast cancer in multiple bones and my liver. I was treated with chemotherapy, but my cancer progressed to my lungs and brain. I participated in a clinical trial which helped for the past year but just started a new medication because my cancer continues to grow. I pray it works to kill the cancer cells in my body so I can see my babies grow up and graduate college. Please consider donating so we can find a cure and turn stage 4, metastatic breast cancer into a chronic illness rather than a terminal illness.

Thank you for your support!

Caitlin Blake's Story

It has been two years and two months since I was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) at the age of 36. At the time of my diagnosis, I had metastases on my liver, multiple bones and lymph nodes. I was fortunate to have a great response to my first line of treatment which not only shrunk my primary breast tumor but all my metastatic lesions. Then a little over a year after starting treatment, I had a seizure, which soon after was found to be caused by a brain tumor. More spread, more cancer. This was a very scary moment, when the brain is impacted, everything is impacted. It was explained to me that the treatment I get every 3 weeks does not cross the blood brain barrier. Essentially our brains have a protective barrier around it, which blocks the medication I am on from entering it, recognizing it as something foreign. But those pesky cancer cells are able to penetrate that barrier and they made a new home there. Since my treatment continued to work from my neck down, I was able to get radiation to the brain tumor and remain on my first line of treatment. I am closely monitored with brain MRI’s every 8 weeks and PET scans every 12 weeks. My most recent scans were good, my brain is responding greatly to the radiation and no new tumors are seen, my PET showed some questionable spots, but we are confident these are due to other factors, not cancer…we will scan again around the beginning of November and hopefully all will still be stable! The goal is to remain on this first line of treatment for as long as possible, the longer it works, the more time I have before at some point running out of options to outsmart this terrible disease. BUT, I am still filled with so much hope. Hope that with efforts such as #LightUpMBC, we will be able to support research that will give me and others more options to turn to or even better a CURE.

In Memory of Jane Holbrook

Written by Kim Fletcher: My mom, Jane Holbrook, passed away from metastatic breast cancer at age 59. Her fight with breast cancer began in her mid to late 40s while my sisters and I were still in various stages of school. After undergoing surgery and several successful treatments, she enjoyed 9 years of remission with the help of some maintenance drugs and consistent monitoring. After this period, when symptoms of metastasis presented themselves and cancer spread throughout her body, she continued fighting (often a silent fight) for about 3 years while continuing to work full time and raising us into early adulthood.

Her doctor proudly referred to my mom as his longest living patient until treatment options became ineffective. In this time, she stressed the importance of early detection and advancing technology to make sure that we, as her daughters, would be on top of our own future health. She learned to advocate for herself with various doctors and made sure we understood some of the harder decisions she had to make.

While my mom came to terms with her own mortality throughout her journey, what often gave her hope and strength to keep fighting was striving to be present for personal landmarks and family events. She centered her life around our family, including my dad and 2 sisters. Birthdays and holidays mattered and were important celebrations. She did not want to be remembered for her cancer or final days, but for the life she lived in between her fight. She found time to record family history through genealogy research, helped her aging parents with various tasks, and highly valued her family relationships. She left lasting memories for us, often remembering her fondly for her quirky sense of humor and contagious laughter.

Thirteen years later (she passed Oct 2010), thanks to continued research efforts, there are more treatment options available. However, the average life expectancy upon diagnosis still remains 2-3 years. I support Metavivor through #LightUpMBC because their fundraising goals solely support research to improve the outcome of metastatic breast cancer, which is the only kind of breast cancer considered terminal. More funding for research provides more hope for metastatic breast cancer patients to enjoy a better quality of life and have more time with their loved ones.

Contact Anastasia at Anastasia.Pantiledes-Ikeda@morganstanley.com and Allison at Allison.Liljenquist@morganstanley.com prior to registering!

If you would like to volunteer, please email Anastasia.Pantiledes-Ikeda@morganstanley.com and Allison.Liljenquist@morganstanley.com.