B.C. resident Susan Anthony is only 53 years old, but she has been living with metastatic breast cancer for almost two years.
“I kind of feel like I’m living in dog years,” she said. “I have to pack more life into every day and not waste a day. You understand that life is precious so I try and make the best of it.”
Metastatic, or Stage 4, breast cancer is not curable. Anthony said the average survival rate is about three years from the time of diagnosis.
“I’m almost two years into that three year kind of prediction, although it varies with everybody,” she said. “There’s people that have been around for 10, 12 years. So it’s how well you respond to treatment, but basically though it means I will be living with this until I probably die of it.”
Anthony was first diagnosed with early stage cancer in 2007. She had a mastectomy and chemotherapy, and when she had a recurrence in 2010, she had more surgery and then underwent radiation. “Then unfortunately, in December 2013, like about 30 per cent of the women who have early stage breast cancer, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer,” she said. “They found breast cancer cells in the lining of my left lung.”
She is now on her second round of chemotherapy, that she says just buys her time. “It’s not going to cure me, it’s not going to fix me. It just buys me time. And hopefully, enough quality of life that I can enjoy what time I have left with my family.”
Anthony is a part of the Canadian Breast Cancer Network’s Living Legacy program (CBCN), which honours Canadians living with metastatic breast cancer.
“We’re out there and we’re living life to the fullest every single day,” she said. “We’re not just sitting around waiting to die.”
“We’re putting our time and our efforts and our thoughtfulness into what our lives mean now as opposed to flowers later.”
Anthony said her living legacy is her son.
“My son is amazing, he is 23 years old,” she said. “He has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. We talk about our living legacy and he is definitely my living legacy. Because at a young age I had to advocate for him, for services, and things at school, whatever he needed, he has grown up to be an advocate himself for people with disabilities, as am I. And I’m very proud of him.”
Anthony said her son is now on various boards and advocates for rights for disabled people.
Now the B.C. resident said she wants to help people understand what metastatic breast cancer is, and let those who are diagnosed with it know they are not alone.
“We are really separate and apart from the pink campaigns where there’s hope and everyone’s cheering for you to finish your last chemo,” she said. “We don’t belong in that group. Unfortunately, we are the physical manifestation of everyone’s worst nightmare.”
“It is a lonely sort of thing because you don’t fit in with the cheering squads and pink ribbons.”
For now, Anthony wants to let people know that if they are facing a diagnosis they can reach out to CBCN for help and guidance.
“It’s nice that the Living Legacy program can link us together across Canada that we can reach out and let women, who may be feeling isolated and apart from the breast cancer community as a whole. Let them know we’re all out there living the best life that we can,” she said.
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