The blow of a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer comes any day. “I’m scared, very scared!” What seemed or was felt pink gives way to the color blue: to serenity, to resilience. There aren’t many other options.
Then, “you move forward and you want to live, you want to breathe, to wake up, to continue sharing time with your family and friends, those who silently, respectfully and generously go through the illness with you… and that’s when the yellow arrives, everything.” “which makes life easier and gives value.”
Silvia Vega, member of the Spanish Metastatic Breast Cancer Association, choked on some words due to emotion when, yesterday, in the plenary hall of the León City Council, she read the manifesto for the International Metastatic Breast Cancer Day that It is commemorated on October 13.
«But necessarily and in an essential way we need green, a lot of green, green hope. Hope that our life does not have a set expiration date, hope that science and research can make the disease chronic and we can have a better quality of life,” added this Leonese who has been living with the disease for four years.
The creator of the ‘Not just a pink ribbon’ campaign, with which she gave a personal approach to facing cancer, is one of the visible faces of patients with metastatic breast cancer in León. An invisible disease that “is not known, is ignored, does not exist” and whose impact they shared yesterday in the street with the support of family and friends, in anticipation of the world day that falls on a Sunday this year.
Metastatic breast cancer is a breast tumor that has spread to other parts of the body in the form of metastases. It is also known as stage IV breast cancer or advanced cancer. The most frequent locations of metastases in breast cancer are: bones, lungs, liver and brain.
According to data from the Spanish Association of Metastatic Breast Cancer, this disease affects three out of every ten people who suffer from a breast tumor, which are 98% women and 2% men. Furthermore, between 5 and 6% of new cases of breast cancer detected each year have metastases at diagnosis.
time is life
“The new treatments arrive in Spain two years late, compared to the 180 days set by the EU”
Metastatic breast cancer is the main cause of death in women between 35 and 50 years old in Spain. “Cancer progresses faster in young people, which is why it has a greater impact on mortality,” adds Silvia Vega. “Many of us are young, we want to live, to see our children grow up,” she adds.
Today, metastatic breast cancer “has no cure”, but treatments have achieved that “our average survival is 5 years.” More than 6,600 patients die every year in Spain due to metastatic breast cancer. There are 18 deaths a day. When reading the names of the deceased companions, “our stars”, this last year Silvia Vega’s voice broke again. Lucía, Mar, Alicia, Lara, Miriam…
From a table installed in Ordoño II they made visible in the city their demands for “more budget for research” and that “new drugs that are already used in Europe be financed in Spain more quickly,” explains Silvia Vega. “Spain has a delay of 700 days” in the incorporation of new drugs that are already used in other countries, a period of almost two years in which many women die without being able to benefit from these treatments.
“We need to have quick access to innovative treatments already approved by the European Union, which should be financed in our National Health System within a maximum period of 180 days, as established by European legislation,” they stressed.
Five years on average
«We need green hope, that our life does not have an expiration date»
They ask for more research because the figure dedicated to this type of cancer only represents 10% of the resources dedicated to scientific studies of cancer in general. For this reason, in addition to raising awareness among society and the political class, they went out to collect funds with which to contribute to the collection of 290,000 euros with which they finance three research projects each year. Advancing research and accelerating new treatments is life for patients because “time plays against us.”
At the local level, in Caule they ask to reinforce multidisciplinary care. “Currently there is only one psycho-oncologist for all cancer patients and the wait for a consultation is two to three months.” They request more nursing staff specialized in oncology and that the national health system cover physiotherapy, nutrition and sexuality consultations because “they are also very important aspects of our life,” says Silvia Vega.
“Today we open our doors to the Spanish Metastatic Breast Cancer Association, for the official reading of the World Metastatic Breast Cancer Day Manifesto, and we do so with full support for each and every one of their demands,” the mayor said. open the event in the plenary hall with the participation of affected people and other members of the municipal Corporation.
José Antonio Diez pointed out that the León City Council has been demanding for years an improvement in both human and technical resources in public health, echoing the demands of those people who suffer from diseases that are aggravated by a delay in consultations; of the demands for the application of cutting-edge treatments that should reach all patients in the best conditions and in the shortest possible time. “Today, of course, we join this demand for more research, more screening, more prevention, more control and monitoring, more care and a faster application of the most effective treatments,” concluded the councilor.
The mayor and members of the Corporation accompany patients and families in the plenary hall after reading the manifesto.
