Honored to be Honorary

I have been a nervous nellie since the adorable Shara Park visited our humble black, white and green home (I joke about that because of my initial discussion about my decor preferences when I blogged about naming the RV Fifi) and interviewed Mike and I for a news segment about me and the exciting responsibility Susan G. Komen Utah bestowed upon me as the 2015 Honorary Race Chair.

Photos from the news segment that Shara posted on Twitter

Photos from the news segment that Shara posted on Twitter

We chatted for an hour, so you never quite know what will be squeezed down into a 5 minute segment. I do love how they snuck in my comment about how I would have named my breast cancer blog Damn Good Lemonade, except all of my relatives live in Utah and I respect their preference for the word darn. It is hilarious – I was chatting, not expecting filming. The mic was on me, I should have known, ha!

I couldn’t sleep this morning. We had the DVR set to record the segment, but I ended up waking up to watch it. I laughed, I cried and it was pretty much a good representation of me and my goofy laugh. I loved how it ended up (yes I am a camping princess).

You can watch the KSL5 News spot here ->>

I do want to note. My soapbox is this:

RESEARCH. Please help fund research for metastatic disease. How to avoid breast cancer from metastasizing, but also how to cure patients that have stage IV breast cancer. Research. Research. Research.

Support organizations that spend money on research. Primarily metastatic research. These ones (the ones in the MBC Alliance):

mbcalliance

Along with Metavivor.org who spends all of the funds they raise on metastatic breast cancer research.

Komen does keep 75% of their funds in the local community and 25% goes to the national office to fund research. They use the funds for programs to help patients in a variety of ways based on the needs of that community (which varies).

I am excited that I will also be involved in a committee with the Komen team here in Utah. I am hoping I will help them with programs/ideas to help metastatic breast cancer patients. I don’t fully know what I will be doing just yet – but feel free to send me what you would like to see – other than Komen giving you money, which would be nice (we all like money), but what programs in the community would improve the quality of life of metastatic patients (and survivors in general) in addition to finding a research and a cure.

My awesome family and friends and been sharing the news story and have been making me feel extra loved (and more are signing up for the team!). My friend Sarah Matonis is working on updating my logo for the blog (I am not a graphic designer) and working on the Elemonators team shirts (she is also available for freelance graphic work if you ever need it, just email me for her contact info). The shirts should be done soon for those that feel like spending the extra money and buying them (otherwise you can totally wear the Komen shirt, I am going to wear both – it will be tricky, but you will see!).

Click the image below to visit my race page, join the team or donate! We are 3rd right now and I am hoping the team stays in the top 3! *fingers crossed* I might be slightly competitive.

elemonators

I received a panicked message from someone concerned that I had given up on breast cancer treatment and wanted me to know that they were NED (which made me very happy, NED is awesome, I would love to dance with NED). I do want people to know that I do know metastatic breast cancer is TREATABLE, but no, there is not a cure, I know that I will die from breast cancer. Stage IV is a terminal form of the disease. I plan on continuing treatment, fighting, sticking around as long as I can. I haven’t given up.

I want people to know the reality though, there is no cure for for stage IV. Unless we fund the research to find it..

Author: Mandi

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