tattoos

On the Road Again

Posted on by Beth Caldwell

My poor husband. I’m ditching him to fly back east again, abandoning him with the kids for another weekend. Oh wait, no I’m not, because my awesome parents agreed to watch the kids all weekend, so The Hubs gets a much needed break too! Nobody pity him. (I asked him what he’s going to do all weekend and he said “Sleep.” Seems like a good plan.)

Where am I going this time? Well, I’m going to be part of Living Beyond Breast Cancer‘s Hear My Voice program. Those of us in the program will serve as peer outreach volunteers, connecting with other women with metastatic breast cancer, and then connecting those women with resources and support. We’ll be doing outreach activities in our community during 2015.

The first step in participating in this program is a training that happens tomorrow, which is why I’m on plane headed toward Philadelphia as you read this. And then on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be attending LBBC’s Ninth Annual Conference for Women Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer. LBBC’s paying for my whole trip, along with all the other folks in the Hear My Voice program, and I just want to say THANK YOU to them for making this trip possible!

The speaker line-up for the conference looks amazing–in fact, there are so many interesting topics, I’m really excited that my college BFF is coming to the conference too, so we can be in two places at once. (Her birthday is TODAY, so everyone wish her a happy one in the comments, won’t you? Me coming east again is her birthday present, along with a signed copy of I STILL Just Want To Pee Alone.)

The other exciting thing happening during the conference: I’m going to be filmed for a video. No lie, I’m totally freaking out and packing and re-packing clothes and accessories, trying to figure out which of my awesome outfits I should wear. It’s going to be a group of young metsters talking about what life is like with mets, and it’ll appear on LBBC’s website sometime soon.

I’m really excited to be part of LBBC’s programs. There are charities that paint fracking drills pink, and there are charities that pay for metastatic breast cancer research, like Metavivor (a good place to donate funds if you want them to go to research), and there are charities like LBBC that help those of us living with MBC connect to resources. The first type of charity…well, let’s not go there. The second and third types are vitally important. We need research on metastasis and treatments for those of us with metastatic breast cancer, and we also desperately need support while we wait for that cure.

If you live in Philadelphia and would like to meet up with me while I’m there, you’re in luck: I’ll be getting tattooed TONIGHT with some other metsters. The amazing Beth Fairchild, who started up the Mets Monday movement, is a tattoo artist and owns a shop in Fairless Hills called Marc’s Tattooing 215. Beth will be doing tattoos for metsters that evening. My appointment is at 6PM, and I’m a wee bit terrified because I’ve never had a real tattoo before–the only tattoos I have now are the stupid boring dots they give you for radiation. (I wasted my youth. WASTED it.) And I hate those dots, so I’m getting them turned into stars. If you’re in town, come on by and hold my hand and tell me I’m tough, will you?

You know, the thing I’m looking forward to the most is spending time with other metsters. I’ve been warning everyone that I’m gonna hug the shit out of them, and there will almost certainly be jumping up and down and shrieking. And crying, and laughing, and then more hugging. It’s gonna be a fantastic weekend!

Mets Monday: So many metsters, so little time

Posted on by Beth Caldwell

You guys! Today is #MetsMonday again, where those of us in the metster community go berserk with the social media and the hashtagging to try to convince the world to do something about our stupid disease. It’s the brainchild of the genius Beth Fairchild, a fellow metster and gifted tattoo artist. (Do you live in North Carolna and need a tattoo? Check out her shop!) 

The theme for this MetsMonday is “If there is one thing you could tell people about metastatic breast cancer, what would it be?” For me, it’s this: there are too many awesome women living with, and dying of, this disease. Too many. So many, in fact, that I was going to put together a list of blogs by other metsters, so you can check out what they have to say, but Nancy, of Nancy’s Point, already has an awesome list. 

So instead, I’m going to make a request: that you share this post on social media, with the hashtag #dontignorestageiv, and help us spread the word that there are too many of living with, and dying of, metastatic breast cancer. Because, maybe if people knew that a woman dies of metastatic breast cancer in America every 14 minutes, they’d do something to help us.