mTNBC Unicorns: Living In Contradiction

Research for triple negative breast cancer is growing, but current treatments still continue to fail the vast majority of people living with triple negative MBC.  Data from the National Cancer Institute gives a five-year relative survival of only 12.8% of women diagnosed with triple negative MBC. Those women have what's called an exceptional response to treatment; more simply, we call them “unicorns” – beings that can bring wonder & hope.  The stories of well-known triple negative MBC unicorns such as Karen Peterson and Barbara Bigelow bring inspiration.  Today, we share the stories of two additional women: Dr. Toni Willis and Colleen Broughton have both lived for 8 years with TN metastatic breast cancer.  Being an exceptional responder is what everyone with MBC hopes for – we wanted to give a chance for Colleen and Toni to share the miraculous, the miserable, and the mundane of surviving far longer than they expected to.

Music Credit:

The Things That Keep Us Here - Scott Buckley

Resources

A Primer on mTNBC (Living Beyond Breast Cancer)

Living in Contradiction: The dialectic of pain (Psychology Today)

The value of second opinions for cancer (Mayo Clinic)

Find an NCI-designated cancer center (National Cancer Institutes)

Health Equity: Breaking Barriers in mTNBC (WebMD series)

Karen’s Club, an organization that helps cancer patients of color learn how to navigate their cancer care & clinical trials, run by Karen Peterson, a mTNBC exceptional responder

When we tri(al): the value of clinical trials for women of color (TOUCH)

Recent academic article on Emerging Treatment Strategies for metastatic triple negative breast cancer (2022)

Stories from other mTNBC unicorns

• Karen Peterson

  • Karen Peterson Survived Breast Cancer by Doing her own Research (Essence magazine)

  • Patient Facing Grim Prognosis finds her way to Perlmutter Cancer Center and makes medical history (NYU Langone Health)

  • Karen Peterson’s Battle with Breast Cancer (People magazine)

  • Don’t Count Yourself Out: Karen Peterson’s Immunotherapy Story (Cancer Research Institute)

  • A conversation with Cancer Research Institute ImmunoAdvocate Karen Peterson (video)

  • on the value of clinical trials (Pzifer)

• Barbara Bigelow

  • Barbara Bigelow discusses her Journey with Triple Negative Breast Cancer (CancerNetwork)

  • Barbara Bigelow: Enjoying Life because of Cancer Research (American Association of Cancer Research)

  • Barbara Bigelow: One Tough Unicorn (Our MBC Life blog)

  • The Cancer Chronicles (Barbara’s blog)

• Janice Cowden

  • Newly Diagnosed with Cancer: You are not a Statistic (Cure Magazine)

  • Searching for Unicorns: Exceptional Survivors & Responders (Our MBC Life podcast)

  • Janice Cowden: Plan to Live (After Breast Cancer Diagnosis)

  • Janice Cowden: Visioning a New Future for Clinical Trials (MBC Alliance)

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Meet the Guests of the Episode

Toni Willis, MD

Toni was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer in 2013 and with a TN metastatic recurrence in 2015.  She is a 2022 graduate of the LBBC Hear My Voice Metastatic Advocacy Program.   Through this program she found her voice in the metastatic breast cancer community.  She has served as a panelist on the following LBBC webinars: Living Long-Term with MBC: A Panel Discussion on the Tough Stuff; Discussing Breast Cancer with Kids: Creating a Roadmap with Your Patients;  and Minimizing Disparities in Breast Cancer (Medscape/LBBC).  Toni is a physician and her advocacy interests are improving access to care and increasing patient involvement in clinical trials.

Colleen Broughton

Colleen has been living with Triple Negative Breast Cancer for 10 years (including 8 years with metastatic TNBC), and is grateful for the connections she’s found with other people living with cancer.  She trained with Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) and is a breast cancer national helpline volunteer, often focusing on triple negative MBC. Colleen also leads the Alumni Ambassador program for A Fresh Chapter, an organization focused on helping people living with cancer build skills in resilience. Colleen is a mama of 3 and a Seattle native with a long tenure in healthcare marketing, curating memorable field trips, and hugging.

*During the height of the pandemic, Colleen bought a unicorn costume so she could safely hug her children & their friends. She ended up bringing joy everywhere she went. This is the picture she sent us of her in it!