
Biosimilar Medicines: What They Are and What’s in the Pipeline for Breast Cancer
By Jamie DePolo on March 30th, 2017 Categories: Treatment & Side EffectsYou may have read or heard about biosimilar medicines in news stories. Many experts think they may allow more people to have access to treatments for cancer and other diseases. But what exactly is a biosimilar medicine, and how do we know one is as safe and effective as the original drug?
In this blog, we’ll address some of the questions that our visitors have …

Absolutely Sweet Marie
By Jamie DePolo on October 10th, 2016 Categories: The Breast Cancer JourneyI wore red cowboy boots and a Pabst Blue Ribbon bowling shirt to my friend Marie’s memorial service. Another friend wore a thrift store skirt with cat faces printed all over it. Another wore a Twangfest music festival t-shirt.
It was fitting, not flip. Marie had given me the PBR shirt. At one point we had bonded over our hatred of beers “with too much …

Why Is Talking About Metastatic Breast Cancer on Social Media So Outrageous?
By Jamie DePolo on January 22nd, 2014 Categories: The Breast Cancer JourneyMany visitors to Breastcancer.org know the writing of Lisa Bonchek Adams. She’s a woman in her 40s who was diagnosed with DCIS in 2006. After a bilateral mastectomy, pathologists found two small invasive breast cancer tumors in the removed tissue, so instead of DCIS, she actually had stage II invasive breast cancer. In December 2008, she had her fallopian tubes and ovaries removed. In October …

The ACA and Breast Cancer: Some Good News for Diagnosed Women
By Jamie DePolo on December 2nd, 2013 Categories: Day-to-Day MattersThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires that just about everyone in the United States will have to have health insurance by Jan. 1, 2014, or pay a penalty. Most types of health insurance will count towards this requirement including employer sponsored insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, and individually purchased plans.
To help us all understand what the ACA means for women diagnosed with breast cancer, …

Insurance Marketplaces Offer Choices for Uninsured
By Jamie DePolo on September 30th, 2013 Categories: Day-to-Day MattersNo matter how you feel about the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, it’s coming. For some it may already be here. Nearly all Americans will be required to have health insurance by Jan. 1, 2014. If they don’t, they’ll have to pay a penalty.
A very visible part of the law becomes active on Oct. 1, 2013: Insurance marketplaces offering various plan options begin operating and will …