There comes a time when we have to put politics and business aside and look at the reason the drug industry has so much more to do. Today two very courageous women lost their fight against breast cancer. I didn’t know them personally yet I find tears coming down my face as I read about their struggle’s with breast cancer.
Susan Niebur passed away on February 6, 2012 after a lifetime of love, crusades, and strength. Over the last five years she lived with inflammatory breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer that presents without a lump. She chronicled her life with cancer here on her blog Toddler Planet with honesty and emotion that were even more rare and aggressive. I also learned that Rachel of The Cancer Culture Chronicles died early this morning following a long struggle with metastatic breast cancer.
I consider myself a spiritual person and I do believe that everything happens in life for a reason but tragedies like these are very hard to take sometimes. I know deep inside that we grieve for the living and those who have left us are at peace and with God but I also know that the fight that these two woman put up, as others with this terrible disease, was very courageous.
People ask why I am so passionate about healthcare marketing and these two woman are part of the reason. We need not only to ensure that the drug industry continues to innovate we also need to ensure that women everywhere are being screened for breast cancer because early detection is key.
The recent politicization of breast cancer screening is more a disgrace now than before but from this sad turn of events maybe some good will come. Private donations have increased to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer health and one can only hope that somewhere some woman are going to get screened for breast cancer before it’s too late.
More money needs to go into R&D for cancer research. We are making strides but still have a long way to go before ever have to read sad stories about people loosing their battle for cancer.
May they find peace and may their struggle be beacon for more research into breast cancer.
Passionate healthcare marketer with over 10 years of experience I believe that what's best for patients is best for healthcare marketers. I also write a monthly DTC Column for PM 360 Magazine and have written many articles on healthcare marketing in an age of empowered patients.
What a beautiful tribute!
I pray deeply that Susan and Rachel have found peace….in a world free of worry and pain, needles and drugs. But there are thousands of us still living with metastatic disease. We need a world in which we take leaps forward, not inches. We need a world where there is balance: 90% of breast cancer deaths are from mets; 2% of funding is for mets. We need change, we need direction…and we need it NOW!