At 42,000 US deaths a year, the push to call metastatic breast cancer "chronic" is premature.
PUBLISHED May 06, 2019
Martha lives in Illinois and was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in January 2015. She has a husband and three children, ranging in age from 12 to 18, a dog and a lizard.
The Centers for Disease Control lists breast cancer as a chronic disease. There are times when researchers and physicians also call it a chronic disease. Certainly, I've been told by various editors and friends that metastatic breast cancer is a chronic disease. After all, they argue, there it is listed as such on the CDC Chronic Diseases page.
Here's the newsflash that I would like to share: Living with metastatic breast cancer makes my experience of ongoing treatments a chronic one. But at 54, my actual cancer is not chronic since my life is probably going to be cut short by this disease. Chronic is my chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, which isn't going to kill me but is a pain to live with. Metastatic breast cancer is this:
Teva Harrison, a talented artist and author who died this week at 42. Anya Silver, a poet and professor who died in August 2018 at 49. Jenny Pagliaro, one half of the country-music duo Roses and Cigarettes, who died in March 2019 at 35. Maryam Mirzakhani, professor and mathematician, who died in July 2017 at 40.
Here's the newsflash that I would like to share: Living with metastatic breast cancer makes my experience of ongoing treatments a chronic one. But at 54, my actual cancer is not chronic since my life is probably going to be cut short by this disease. Chronic is my chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, which isn't going to kill me but is a pain to live with. Metastatic breast cancer is this:
Teva Harrison, a talented artist and author who died this week at 42. Anya Silver, a poet and professor who died in August 2018 at 49. Jenny Pagliaro, one half of the country-music duo Roses and Cigarettes, who died in March 2019 at 35. Maryam Mirzakhani, professor and mathematician, who died in July 2017 at 40.
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