Real Pink

The bones are the most common sites of breast cancer metastases, which can damage your bones. This is an issue that effects over 70% of people living with metastatic breast cancer. Fortunately, there are medications that can strengthen and protect your bones, which can reduce this damage. Here today to share her breast cancer journey and how she protects her bones while living with bone metastases...

Special Guest: Sarah Sanders.

Losing your hair is a hard and often emotional part of a breast cancer journey. As with breast surgery, it affects a part of your body often tied to your identity. Today’s guest has an incredibly uplifting perspective as it relates to losing her hair during chemo and she is here today to share how to not only prepare for this side effect, but to embrace it with courage and grace and to allow yours...

Many of us grew up with the philosophy that the relationship between a patient and healthcare provider was very straight forward. The patient presented symptoms, the doctor made a diagnosis and recommended treatment and the patient underwent that treatment. Medicine is changing and patients are beginning to take a more active role in their healthcare, understanding risks and benefits, and choosing...

Sex and intimacy can be difficult for many women after a breast cancer diagnosis. You may feel your body has betrayed you. And, after treatment, you may feel detached or disconnected from the pleasure your body once gave you. Body image issues may also affect how you view your sexuality and some side effects of breast cancer treatment can impact your sex life. Here today to discuss her breast canc...

A breast cancer diagnosis isn’t easy. It’s difficult for the person diagnosed and for the loved ones of that person. Often significant support is needed, but difficult to accept. My guest on the show today is Kelly Wright. Kelly has had cancer twice, but through the support of her family, and broader community is still here with an upbeat personality and a spirit of that just won’t quit. Kelly was...

From Susan G Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room. Having a family member or friend with metastatic breast cancer is challenging. For people who love and care for the person with the metastatic breast cancer, it can be difficult to know what to say and...

Support for the Real Pink podcast comes from Pfizer's Get It Done initiative. Cancer screenings and follow-up appointments had decreased significantly due to COVID-19, which is why Pfizer created Get It Done, which aims to empower cancer survivors to speak with their doctors and keep their cancer screenings and follow-up appointments by providing resources to help start conversations and prepare f...

Sixteen-year-old Isabel Rosario is dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer, and that it affects men, too. Her grandfather, Leandro Montalvo, was diagnosed in 2019, and it came as a shock to their family. Since Leandro’s diagnosis, Isabel has worked to educate and create awareness around breast cancer in men. She has been a Girl Scout for 11 years and her Gold Award, the highest recognit...

Breast cancer is not just one disease - there are many different types of breast cancer. HER2- positive breast cancer is one of the more common types, making up about 10-20 percent of newly diagnosed breast cancers. Today, we are talking to Dr. Ian Krop, Associate Chief of the Division of Breast Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Med...

Advocating for a patient is an integral part of a patient's healthcare journey. However, many family members are unexpectedly thrown into this overwhelming situation with no idea of how to be an influential patient advocate. Not to mention, patients also should understand how to advocate for themselves (when possible). After losing her sister to cancer, today’s guest was determined to make so...

BRCA mutations are hereditary cancer mutations that significantly elevate the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. One of the reasons to get undergo genetic testing is when a family member, such as a parent or sibling, is diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age. This is the story of today’s guest.  Erika Stallings underwent screening for the BRCA genetic mutation and what she lea...

The death of a parent can come as a shock and feel extremely unfair, especially if the child and parent were both relatively young.  When a mother leaves behind her children, there is a missing presence, but memories and life lessons that will always remain. Today’s guest remembers his mother’s spontaneity, devotion to fun, warm nature, and caring spirit and credits her for shaping him into t...

Over the past 40 years, breast cancer care has greatly improved due to information gained through clinical trials. Clinical trials test the safety and benefits of new treatments as well as new combinations of standard treatments. They can also study other aspects of care, including risk reduction, diagnosis and screening. Whether a new therapy or test becomes part of the standard of care for breas...

On last week’s episode, Ashely Dedmon shared her experiences as a young caregiver and how it impacted how she approached her own health. Today we are going to continue our conversation with Ashley to talk about the impact of being born into three generations of women affected by breast cancer, losing her mother to the disease and watching her father battle prostate cancer shortly thereafter. &nbsp...

Caregiving can be a difficult and very personal role on many levels. Assisting a loved one through their cancer diagnosis, helping with daily activities, providing support and helping to make treatment decisions may all be a part of the responsibilities. When young adults are the caregiver taking care of a parent, they face many unique challenges, such as having more duties to juggle, starting the...

Navigating a breast cancer journey can cause feelings of confusion and fear, all of which are normal.  There are healthy ways to cope with the stress caused by these fears, such as mindfulness meditation, support groups or finding a creative outlet. Today’s guest has beat cancer not once, but twice! As a survivor of Lymphoma of the brain as well as breast cancer, Julia Evans knows firsthand h...

People diagnosed with breast cancer have many unique sources of stress. As we head into Mother’s Day, we will explore some of the challenges that mothers face in particular. Throughout the process, moms with breast cancer face the reality of maintaining a sense of normalcy for themselves and their children while balancing the emotional and physical toll of treatment. Today’s guest was diagnosed du...

Susan G. Komen has long worked to mobilize our communities to take action. Susan G. Komen’s Center for Public Policy serves as the leading voice of the more than 3.8 million breast cancer survivors, 168,000 people living with metastatic disease, and the scientists, health care professionals, caregivers and members of the public who are concerned about breast cancer. Komen works to educate people a...