Dorothy: [00:00:00] All of her career has been involved in cancer research. Ginny Thompson Kirklin has always been involved in education or advocacy. She’s been a strategist for cancer control programs. She was a grant officer for the largest breast cancer foundation in the nation. In fact, her career in one way or another has involved cancer.
But now, she’s taken on a very new role. Metastatic breast cancer has been one of her top areas of interest for a long time. Ginny’s here today to talk about what we know about this disease, the different efforts that are going on to extend women’s lives. and the future of metastatic breast cancer that could become a reality.
Let’s Talk About Your Breast.
A different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, the Breast Center of Excellence and a Texas treasure. You’re going to hear frank discussions about tough [00:01:00] topics. And you’re going to learn why knowing about your breast could save your life. Join us as we hear another story and we answer those tough questions that you may have.
Ginny: My name is Ginny Thompson Kirklin and many people know me when I wasn’t married and so, um, still call me Ginny Thompson, but I’m Ginny Thompson Kirklin and I’m with the Advanced Breast Cancer Program. that’s housed with breast medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. And I’m their first program manager.
And so I’m just thrilled to be back at MD Anderson. And our program provides resources and helps guide patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer through the resources at MD Anderson and also, um, you know, helps them walk through that journey. And as you know, it’s a different journey than an early stage.
Cancer patient. Um, and then we also provide resources to help empower our patients .
Dorothy: So I’m trying to do the [00:02:00] math. This means you’ve been doing this two decades.
Ginny: I have been doing this more than two decades.
Dorothy: And, and you’ve always been in, in the cancer field.
Ginny: I have. I interned with my community health degree at Susan G Komen in Dallas.
And I fell in love with working with the survivors that did back then. The helpline was. Answered the phones for Answered by Survivors, and I fell in love with their passion for life. And then I went and got my master’s degree, you know, in behavior change. And, you know, why do people make behavior changes or don’t?
And, um, and then that landed me in Houston at MD Anderson. And then I, uh, was at Komen for over 11 years. And, uh, that’s where we really worked mostly, uh, together. But we did things before that. And then I’m back at MD Anderson. Um, on the clinical side, and so I’ve learned a lot this past few years on how the clinic helps patients and clinical trials and all the things that our patients need to [00:03:00] live a long life.
Dorothy: So Ginny, did you ever have personal experiences with breast, with any kind of cancer? But I mean, for you to stay in this field for this long, what else drove you to?
Ginny: You know, things just fell in line and, and I, um, I have fallen in love with the work and one thing leads to the next, you know, you get a degree thinking you’re going to be doing educational materials.
And I was out in the community helping organizations, you know, reach patients and, um, help save lives. And then now I’m back, you know, in a, in a clinic situation. So really helping, um, make sure that. The patients get all the care they need for their advanced breast cancer, but I don’t have a family history of breast cancer.
But, you know, I have an aunt that that was diagnosed a few years ago when her mother had it a few years before that. So I definitely have seen that.
Dorothy: Yes, once you see it. It’s there and all the work that you did it at Susan Komen, of course, the Rose at [00:04:00] that time was one of the Largest beneficiaries, you know, we we I’ve always said if it hadn’t been for Komen, The Rose would not be here. But you know, I what I remember is that you were doing a lot of unusual things trying to introduce us grantees to to really explore different ways of reaching people.
Do you think that we’ve gotten any better at bringing awareness to the general public? Do you think there’s more awareness now or do we still have a big job ahead?
Ginny: I think when you look at In different communities, we still have a big job ahead of us and, you know, there’s a continuum of care. As you know, you know, you’re trying to help women get screened.
And then if they find an abnormal finding that, you know, needing diagnostic services. And then if there’s a positive biopsy, the treatment and then the follow up and survivorship and then You know, if the cancer returns [00:05:00] or progresses, then we’re taking care of those patients. And so I think to be successful is to have a strong continuum of care that can care for people in our community.
And I, you know, loved working with the grantees and we were able to connect grantees to other grantees that could make that work for their community. And, um, I did get to do a lot of unique things and I love kind of being part of a small organization because we could try different things and, um, you know, I love being part of those forums with the, with the grantees because you learn so much, you know, I can tell you theoretically what you should do, but when you hear from.
an organization that’s having a success. Um, you know, you might need to tweak it and try it in your community and you, and, and see if it works. But it, it was, uh, I love those days cause I learned from, from the community members and what, what was successful. And I think, you know, I remember one of our successes, you know, with Liberty [00:06:00] County, you know, when we started the breast health summits many years ago and Liberty County came up to us and said, we need help.
You know, we, we have a. We’re not in your service area, but we have really terrible statistics and you know, we worked on that and Then I remember when we had a grantee in Liberty County and you know He had to do different things to make it work But for a while he was referring patients to The Rose’s Galleria location and of course there was a high no show rate to go from Liberty County to the Galleria and I would read the Final reports.
And I didn’t like what I was seeing with those no show rates. And so you and I went out there and talked to them about the mobile mammography program and it took a few more months, but then it was a successful program. And so I think it’s meeting grantees where they’re at and helping them kind of go to the next level.
And as we know, things change, you know, funding [00:07:00] changes or pro programs you relied on in the community aren’t available anymore. And so you have to kind of re innovate and, um, and try new things. And so I, I’m not as close to kind of that continuum of care as I was. Um, but I, I just wonder if there’s still kind of that networking and collaboration that’s going on.
Dorothy: Definitely. Now, you know, we still serve Liberty County. We still serve that particular grantee, but others there now. But I think Ginny, one of the things that you’ve touched on is the importance of collaboration. And before, and I, I’m going to credit you for doing a lot of that. And you know, we all have our own gift, but you didn’t let us.
not collaborate. I mean, it was, it was really fascinating. And those collaborations have expanded so much to now, you know, at first it was, [00:08:00] we were all in kind of silos. We were all, Oh, this is what I do. And this is my territory and I’m not moving out. And then when, when we saw the value of working together, it was like we could serve so many more.
And And like you said, the forums and I’m talking from, uh, you know, a grantees point of view, there’s so much we don’t know. And and when we are able to sit down at the table, it’s like everything you ever hear about people and making progress. Once you sit down at the table and can talk to each other, it, it really makes a difference in how you serve a community.
I can remember we were very, very small and I’d always say, well, we have to collaborate because we’re too small not to do, you know, do that. But now I realize that because we could, it did open the way for a lot of others. to look at that model. So thank you for showing [00:09:00] us how to do all that. It was it was a very different time.
Ginny: And y’all were one of our larger grantees and with the mobile units you had and then if they need a diagnostic services, you know, they would come to The Rose’s locations. And so y’all were such a critical partner to so many, especially in those outline areas. Um, you know, some counties don’t have a stationary mobile center. And so that is so important to bring to the insured and uninsured.
Dorothy: That’s what we’ve learned with. You may not know, but now we’re serving 43 counties with our mobile program, and it’s something like 40 percent of those counties do not have a facility. So we become that facility. And again, that collaboration is going on because we’re working with partners in the community.
Ginny: Yes.
Dorothy: You just, you can’t do it without a partner. That is so, so important. Now, I know that one of your passions was always metastatic breast cancer. I can remember [00:10:00] when you were one of the, uh, pioneers that said we have to have a, a, what was it that it wasn’t a summit, but it was, you were the first one to pull together a real program.
Ginny: Yeah, we, it was called the metastatic breast cancer impact series, and it was a conference as well as dinners to kind of. Provide community for those patients and also webinars and things like that. And with the needs assessment for, that the NBC Alliance did, we use that as kind of what should our conference look like.
We learned that a lot of those NBC patients, they’re not the ones wearing pink. They are in constant treatment for the rest of their life and they needed a different kind of support. And so, um, you know, we held those conferences and we had patients involved that shared these, these conferences and then worked with organizations.
And that’s where I met the advocates that started the advanced breast cancer program at MD Anderson, as [00:11:00] well as Dr. Tripathy and Abbey Kaler, who run. you know, our program now. And so it’s, you know, it’s, it’s, I love doing that. We learned so much. And I think, you know, one of my good skills is kind of bringing everyone to the table and giving people a voice and, and helping shining that light on that, on that.
topic and disease. And those were some great successes that we had. And, um, I, I loved working with, with the advocates, you know, cause some of them know they might die of breast cancer and they, you know, the average lifespan after you’re diagnosed is three to five years. And so they have, um, truly they’re living different lives because they have that timeline in front of them and they’re going to be in treatment probably for the rest of their lives. Um, and we do have some patients that are not on treatment and, but are still being, you know, um, cared for by an oncologist, making sure [00:12:00] everything’s going well. Um, but some of our patients, when, when they progress or the cancer comes back, they do have to change treatments or start new treatments.
And, um, it’s tough because, you know, as you get older, you have comorbidities like blood pressure or diabetes. And, um, you know, you want to make sure those are in check when you’re going through with your treatment. And so we’ve, you know, started programs around helping care for patients that are going through treatment.
Um, because as you know, some of our patients don’t have an internal medicine doctor. And then if you have an internal medicine doctor, but doesn’t keep up with the latest breast cancer treatment regimens, and how it’s going to interfere with, with different things or cause side effects. Um, It can be harder to treat those patients and so we started a clinic with the general internal medicine team at MD Anderson to have a clinic for our metastatic breast cancer patients to have a, um, internist that is especially for them.
Dorothy: So, [00:13:00] you know, it’s just, I mean, let’s, let’s discuss what metastatic means.
Ginny: Yes, you’re right. We need to kind of start from there. Metastatic breast cancer is breast cancer that. It started in the breast, but it spread to other organs and breast cancer likes to go to the brain, the bones, the liver and the lungs and some breast cancer goes kind of to the stomach area.
But, um, so that’s where it and and it’s still breast cancer, but it’s in your bones. And, uh, that’s when it gets life threatening when it’s in those other organs and, um, we can have patients that are diagnosed stage four and that’s d— De Novo. They didn’t know they had breast cancer until it was diag— it had spread. Um, and then we also have patients that were on treatment. Um, sometimes maybe their treatment never really worked and it progressed then or we have patients that were technically maybe cancer free, but it came back five or 10 years later or 20 [00:14:00] years later. And that means your metastatic when it’s spread to other organs.
And, um, what the good news is, is that there’s so many more treatments available to metastatic breast cancer patients now. And it’s because we’ve You know, personalized medicine where we’re treating, um, the cancer based on the person’s genetics that they got from their mother and father, but also the genetics of that tumor and those that can change over time with mutations and then you can target those mutations and stop the cancer from growing.
And so. There’s been a lot of new discoveries with, with those targeted therapies, is what we call ’em. And, um, and that’s saving, you know, prolonging the lives of, of women and men that have metastatic breast cancer.
Dorothy: So you, you’ve covered two things there. One, one is that when you have metastatic, it’s a very different type of experience than if your cancer responds and [00:15:00] a year has gone by and you’re tr, you know, cancer free.
Explain to us what happens when when you’re dealing with a metastatic diagnosis,
Ginny: we have a weekly support group and it turned weekly during covid because of all the changes to the health care field going on and patients needed that weekly support and it’s virtual. So we get to talk to patients across the country as well.
And many of those patients Are scanned every three months to see if their cancer has shrunk or is is growing more on their treatment and so they’re making and then so they talk to their oncologist and everyone comes together to make a decision. If it’s progressed, um, what are their treatment options?
And some of our patients do do phase one clinical trials and that means that they, um, We have a special center for that at MD Anderson and it’s the largest center in the world, which is amazing and that’s changed as well. Um, you know, phase one clinical trials [00:16:00] used to be just testing how sick you get on these treatments, kind of your last step.
But, but now this doesn’t have to be your last step. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. And there, you know, it takes a long time to develop drugs. And so. Patients that are on, on phase one trials, maybe getting these drugs, you know, up to nine years before it, it goes into standardized therapy. And so they can have some real remarkable, um, outcomes and responses.
Yes. And, um, and it’s, so it’s. It’s, it’s treating, they’re looking at combinations of therapies, they’re looking at immunotherapy, which is using your immune system to fight the cancer, and, you know, biomarkers, or just hormonal therapies, so it’s really changed in the last few years, and it’s kind of precision or personalized medicine.
Dorothy: That’s the other reason why clinical trials are so important. On so many different levels, but now expand more on what you just said about it doesn’t have to be the end. [00:17:00] I mean, we’re having a lot of women right now that are living and, and yes, they have to do different things while there’s because they’re still in treatment, basically, but there’s a lot of people living with metastatic breast cancer right now.
So, when did you see that change come in?
Ginny: That’s a good question. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been back at MD Anderson. And so we have patients that have only been in clinical trials. Um, one of our de novo patients was on a, a phase three clinical trial. And, um, was on it for eight years. Oh. And then they did see progression.
And so she Went back to the phase one clinical trials and is now on a phase one And she’s using that medication and a new medication. So the combination therapy and it’s showing success So that means that if if the cancer progresses on that medication She can go go back and [00:18:00] do some other standardized already proven treatments for her breast cancer and not have to, you know, wait to go to phase one when she’s exhausted all of the standardized therapies .
Dorothy: That’s exciting.
Ginny: So it’s exciting. And so, you know, our, our nurse practitioner who’s an, you know, a metastatic breast cancer specialist, she kind of talks to them about what is their strategy, how do they want to use clinical trials. And, um, you know, when clinical trials are taken. You’re taking very, very good care of the patients.
I didn’t say that right. But, um, you know,
Dorothy: there’s extra surveillance and and extra attention to any kind of reaction. So, and I think that’s still that hesitation about going into clinical trials. Oh, you know, You know, I’m, I’m going to be getting stuff that’s not been used, but it’s really not that way at all.
Ginny: Yeah, it’s definitely changed.
Dorothy: Very, very, uh, controlled. Very.
Ginny: And there’s not a placebo in phase one. So you’re getting treatment that they think [00:19:00] is going to help you. And, um, so what our patients realized is they were getting, like you say, extra care, extra surveillance in these clinical trials and they wanted all of the metastatic patients to have that kind of support and that’s where our program came and it was built.
by patients for patients. And so we still, you know, have a steering committee made up of patients and patient advocates that help, you know, what do we need to do? And one of the things they said is we need that extra care. And, um, and so we have a nurse practitioner that serves in that role to give him that extra care.
you know, talk to them. Sometimes, like you said, some patients don’t identify that they have metastatic breast cancer. Maybe their oncologist said your cancer progressed, but didn’t understand it was stage four. Um, and so helping patients understand what the treatment looks like. It’s not a curative treatment.
Um, but that doesn’t mean we can’t manage it.
Dorothy: And it doesn’t mean that people can’t have a [00:20:00] good life. even with the treatment.
Ginny: Yes, and that, and our patients want to have the best life they can on treatment or off treatment because that helps them live a longer life. You know, I have some that are in remission and they want to be as healthy as they can because if the cancer comes back, they’ll be better able to fight it.
Yes, we have, you know, and often times our metastatic cancer patients are not on chemotherapy, so they They have hair and they look great, but they still have these, these daily, monthly struggles because they’re on treatment.
Dorothy: You talked about someone eight years. What’s the longest you can live with metastatic?
Ginny: We have some, some patients, you know, over 25 years.
Dorothy: Oh my gosh.
Ginny: So it’s, it’s inspiring. And you know, the support group I was talking about, you know, we would, it’s great to see these long term cancer patients on because they inspire the newer patients that have just started [00:21:00] because it’s a very emotional diagnosis.
To get and it takes many months usually for patients to kind of really understand it. And, um, you know, one of my volunteers from my common days was, was diagnosed with metastatic and, and she didn’t, it was just really hard to wrap your head, her head around, around the diagnosis, but she’s been, she’s been, she’s, she’s wonderful person.
Dorothy: How does the health inequities, how does that impact this whole process? So many women really can’t access that extra care.
Ginny: And that’s, that’s the hard part of being at MD Anderson. We have so many resources, but some people can’t come to MD Anderson due to insurance or travel and things like that. Um, And, you know, we’ve been working at this for over 20 years, but we COVID helped everyone else realize the inequities that we’ve been seeing in breast cancer for many years that we’ve, you know, since the nineties have [00:22:00] seen the mortality rates for African American women be 40 percent higher compared to white women with the same disease.
And that’s unacceptable. And, you know, one of our researchers was talking about they, they may attribute that change to tamoxifen and the access to the new treatment that came out in the nineties to the change in mortality. And so it’s kind of the access to health care is, is, is one of the challenges with that mortality rate.
And we know. Breast cancer is different in African American women. They’re at a higher risk for, um, harder to treat breast cancers, like triple negative breast cancers. And then they’re diagnosed at a later stage, and that makes it harder to treat and more costly to treat.
Dorothy: But it still goes back to so many of our policies and so many of our, and I’m not talking about our personal organization’s policies.
But the idea that you still can’t get quote, “a screening [00:23:00] mammogram until you’re 40″ and we have seen so many women in the African American community diagnosed when they’re 34, 35, 36. And then, then there’s this pushback for them to even have any kind of diagnostic workup. And if they do, it’s going to cost an arm and a leg, and you know, that is a, that in itself, right there, is just one of the biggie problems.
And we’ve got to do something that makes it more accessible, that says, you’re going to have a different kind of outcome. So let’s address it right here. Do it ahead of time.
Ginny: And like you say, some of those things start with the screening guidelines. And we know African American women are diagnosed at an earlier age.
And that sometimes means it’s more aggressive. And how can we make our policy reflect what we know? And I, you have to be, you have to know your stats and know, you know, how to, how to [00:24:00] help policy make that. Um, and I think we need a personalized approach to screening guidelines. And.
Dorothy: And it can’t be just that go talk to your doctor because how many women do not have a doctor just like you were talking about.
And especially if you’re, if you’re, don’t have insurance or you’re in a area that you just can’t get to a doctor. It’s, there’s so many different factors that play into this that truly none of this is one size fits all. And, you know, I’m so glad to know that we’ve stopped trying to fit everyone into one, one package.
It doesn’t work. It never did. But how exciting that we really have some hope for the metastatic, uh, breast cancers. You know, there was a time you said that word, it meant death. And that’s what I’m hearing you say is it’s just not true anymore.
Ginny: Right, you know many people like you say able to work able to care for their families and [00:25:00] continue treatment for many years with metastatic Breast cancer and the other thing it’s not just a phase one trials But we support these patients more with symptom management as well as you know pain Just you don’t have to live with some of these symptoms that maybe in a few years before would make some people quit their treatment.
And so we’re able to take care of patients kind of holistically.
Dorothy: And that’s another really good point because a lot of times the treatment became so intense. It was like, why, why do I do that? And so now, once again, there’s another step, another part of the progress of making it. Making it easier.
Ginny: And you know, we are serving it’s we’re still a small program But we want to let people know about what resources we have at MD Anderson for advanced breast cancer And you know when we started we were seeing the patients that had high needs And also the patients that knew somebody to get them, you know to the right place, but we want to make sure patients [00:26:00] All patients can benefit probably from our program.
And so we are this year and I’m kind of my first year full time. We created educational materials and we started um, recording our weekly education series. And like you say, you’ve done 70 podcasts and we’ve done over 150 sessions. And you learn so much that you didn’t even know. Was available symptom management and healthy lifestyles and nutrition.
Um, palliative care and, you know, thinking about end of life and what considerations and conversations you need to have. And we cover that on our, our. Weekly education series and um, now we have it up on our website.
Dorothy: So it’s something anyone can—
Ginny: everybody can access
Dorothy: anyone can ask
Ginny: Mm hmm.
Dorothy: And you really and truly when you get down to it your program is replicable You could take it anywhere and and use some of the materials you’ve already worked so hard to create And the process behind them.
So that, I think [00:27:00] folks think that, Oh, well, if it’s not there, if it’s not at one facility or one, uh, medical facility, you, you can’t have it, but there’s a lot you can tap into. And that’s, that is one of the gifts of MD Anderson. They’ve always been willing to share. So we really encourage folks. Can you tell us how they can find these weekly?
Ginny: Sure. Um, So what you can search the advanced breast cancer clinic, um, we’re on the MD Anderson website under the breast center and then our videos are also Connected to that page the advanced breast cancer clinic and then um, you know, we just had one about improving clinical trial participation with underserved populations.
And she gave us a whole semester of class, but just things are changing. And, and, and we have a video on phase one clinical trials and, and how that has changed so much and how they want to have a pathway for if the patient’s cancer comes back, what is the next step [00:28:00] just in phase one? And it’s. It’s remarkable that we can have that kind of, um, you know, treatments and therapies lined up for these patients.
Dorothy: So anyone can go to MD Anderson’s website and look for Advanced Breast Cancer.
Ginny: Advanced Breast Cancer Clinic.
Dorothy: Clinic. And you’ll find all of these resources there. And certainly we, we want to share this information. What do you think is the next step in this?
Ginny: Well, I think. We’re helping patients with this personalized medicine and that takes a lot of infrastructure And it’s not you know with with the tumor biology that changes over time so you can test a patient and and they don’t have any tumor markers then but you need to retest them or you find a tumor marker and We don’t have a therapy you know, attacking that tumor marker, but we may have it in a year.
And so how do we kind of keep track of all that and the infrastructure behind [00:29:00] it and making sure everybody is able to get this kind of quality care. And I think, um, like you say, making sure that people Can access the resources and empower patients to, you know, ask for for what they need
Dorothy: And I and what I’m hearing is it was the patients that moved So many of these programs forwarded our insisting on it or saying we need this. You know one of the things that we hear over and over on this podcast is you have to be an advocate you have to for yourself or what you need. And that’s still hard for women, no matter what, but that’s what’s going to make the difference.
So Ginny, let’s, I’m going to ask you the, uh, A really tough question. And I know your role at the state with CAT. Tell us what CAT means.
Ginny: It’s the Cancer Alliance of Texas. And all the states and territories have a cancer plan, [00:30:00] kind of a pathway to help reduce the cancer burden at a state level. And so CAT helps promote the cancer plan and brings organizations together to work kind of on the issues around breast cancer, cervical cancer, tobacco control, and different things like that.
And I, um, was an, uh, member at large as part of the executive committee this last two years. And so it’s been a, a great, uh, thing to just see behind the. Work at that level and, uh, work with you on, on the breast cancer group as well. And, you know, I’ve been involved with CAP before it had a different name many years ago because we were big proponents of the cancer plan, um, at my former job.
And so it’s, it’s great to see it grow. And there’s so many more partners because of the. The CPRIT grants, and as you know, CPRIT stands for Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Texas. One thing we worked on with our advocacy days, and that’s brought [00:31:00] so many more programs in different counties across the state to help control cancer.
Dorothy: Oh, it’s made such a huge difference in Texas. But what do you think is the biggest issue facing, let’s talk about the uninsured with cancer in Texas.
Ginny: And I do think that’s the biggest issue facing Texans. You know, we, um, our uninsured rate has gone down. I think it’s the lowest in 10 years, but it’s still, we’re the last state.
We have the highest uninsured rate across the country. And there’s many reasons for that. You know, Texas has a lot of small businesses and may not offer that to their employees, but that affects. It’s our patients that we see and, um, and you see. And so that’s still, I think, a big challenge is, you know, the working poor or the people that are trying to pay their light bill and they’re not going to go get a mammogram most of the time unless they get some help and [00:32:00] know that it’s a priority.
And we know women, you know, really help shape our families and our future, and we want to make sure they’re as healthy as possible and able to take care of their families and work and and give back.
Dorothy: And of course, all of us in the field that are working with uninsured people know that with this recent change in Medicaid and with all the emergency regs that have been lifted, we we are seeing a huge increase in the number of people who are asking for help.
So, you know, again, it’s about being sure people realize we have a problem and we need to address it some way or another. I agree. And I know if you stay in cat, we’re gonna find a way to do that. , that’s such a, a, a gift to have you there. Who, someone who’s been through this and knows what’s on the ground, that that makes such a difference.
Ginny: We’ve been working on some of these issues for many, you know, many years since we’ve been working together. Yeah.
Dorothy: Yes. But we’ve made some, we’ve had some great, yes. [00:33:00] Great successes. The fact that BCCS or the Breast and Cervical Cancer Program Now is treating so many more women and, and men. Uh, we have to remember there are men that we have to find special programs for who have breast cancer.
But it’s, we are seeing progress slow, always slower than we want. But there is some progress. So, Ginny, you’ve, you’ve, I want you to imagine that you’ve died, and it’s 50 years after your death. When you look back, what are you going to see that has Ginny Thompson Kirklin stamped on it?
Ginny: I think the people that we help and the people that I was able to help give a voice to and I think that’s You know, I’m, I’m good at bringing people to the table and giving them the opportunity to share their story or to be part of the collaboration and they’re part of the team.
And I think, you know, hopefully the people I help give a voice to.
Dorothy: And [00:34:00] that’s, that’ll be your legacy for sure. Because we do, um, we all need a voice and we need someone to let us know that we have a voice and we can use it. It takes so much for, for people to really appreciate that. But once we start talking.
Ginny: Yes.
Dorothy: Then change happens.
Ginny: Empowering them to share their voice and their story. Yes.
Dorothy: Anything else you want to tell our listeners about? What you’re doing are metastatic breast cancer are using their voice.
Ginny: Well, I think there’s a lot of hope and I know that’s not easy when you’re going through all the throws of not being able to work and changing treatments and things like that.
But, um, hopefully, um, there, there’s hope for another treatment and things like that. Um, we are also part of the MD Anderson. Boot walked in cancer and we have a team called Stomp Out Stage four Breast Cancer. And we’ve been the largest [00:35:00] fundraising team, I think since the beginning. Um, but you can join us on November 4th and you can register with the Stomp Out Stage four Breast Cancer.
And it’s free to register and free to walk, but we’d love if you wanted to fundraise with us. And that’s on the MD Anderson website as well.
Dorothy: Important walk. Very important walk.
Ginny: Yes. Yes.
Dorothy: Well, Ginny, thank you for being with us today for talking about all the work that’s being done in metastatic world and, uh, thank you for once again reminding us there is a lot of hope.
And, and there will be change, as long as we keep at it.
Ginny: Thank you, Dorothy.
Dorothy: So, that wraps it up for today, and don’t forget, we’re doing a episode every single day. You’re going to get your daily dose of Let’s Talk About Your Breasts during the month of October.
Post-Credits: October is the month of pink. And for the Roses a breast center of excellence. That means we’ll be airing podcasts every day in October. To celebrate breast cancer awareness month, you’ll be hearing from longtime firefighter, senior captain, and breast cancer survivor from the Houston Fire [00:36:00] Department. You’ll hear how making Clay heads was part of her treatment. Be sure to share with family and friends because there’s a little something for everyone.
To find out ways to help the Rose visit our website at therose.org. And remember, self-care is not selfish. It’s essential.
