Real Pink

Sixteen-year-old Isabel Rosario is dedicated to raising awareness about breast cancer, and that it affects men, too. Her grandfather, Leandro Montalvo, was diagnosed in 2019, and it came as a shock to their family. Since Leandro’s diagnosis, Isabel has worked to educate and create awareness around breast cancer in men. She has been a Girl Scout for 11 years and her Gold Award, the highest recognition a Girl Scout can earn – is “The One Percent: A Human Race Breast Cancer Awareness Project.”...

Breast cancer is not just one disease - there are many different types of breast cancer. HER2- positive breast cancer is one of the more common types, making up about 10-20 percent of newly diagnosed breast cancers. Today, we are talking to Dr. Ian Krop, Associate Chief of the Division of Breast Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Krop is a physician-scientist that treats patients and conducts clinical trial research in...

Advocating for a patient is an integral part of a patient's healthcare journey. However, many family members are unexpectedly thrown into this overwhelming situation with no idea of how to be an influential patient advocate. Not to mention, patients also should understand how to advocate for themselves (when possible). After losing her sister to cancer, today’s guest was determined to make something good come out of something tragic. That is why she spent most of 2019 writing a book called...

BRCA mutations are hereditary cancer mutations that significantly elevate the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. One of the reasons to get undergo genetic testing is when a family member, such as a parent or sibling, is diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age. This is the story of today’s guest. Erika Stallings underwent screening for the BRCA genetic mutation and what she learned throughout her journey was both eye opening and life changing. She has become an active patient...

The death of a parent can come as a shock and feel extremely unfair, especially if the child and parent were both relatively young. When a mother leaves behind her children, there is a missing presence, but memories and life lessons that will always remain. Today’s guest remembers his mother’s spontaneity, devotion to fun, warm nature, and caring spirit and credits her for shaping him into the man he is today. Here to share the story of his Superhero Mom is Matt Tarro. Matt, welcome to the...

Over the past 40 years, breast cancer care has greatly improved due to information gained through clinical trials. Clinical trials test the safety and benefits of new treatments as well as new combinations of standard treatments. They can also study other aspects of care, including risk reduction, diagnosis and screening. Whether a new therapy or test becomes part of the standard of care for breast cancer depends largely on the results of clinical trials. Clinical trials offer people with...

On last week’s episode, Ashely Dedmon shared her experiences as a young caregiver and how it impacted how she approached her own health. Today we are going to continue our conversation with Ashley to talk about the impact of being born into three generations of women affected by breast cancer, losing her mother to the disease and watching her father battle prostate cancer shortly thereafter. Ashley was 22 years old and fearful that she was next. It was then that she took matters into her own...

Caregiving can be a difficult and very personal role on many levels. Assisting a loved one through their cancer diagnosis, helping with daily activities, providing support and helping to make treatment decisions may all be a part of the responsibilities. When young adults are the caregiver taking care of a parent, they face many unique challenges, such as having more duties to juggle, starting their own families or careers and coming to terms with taking care of someone who has always taken...

Navigating a breast cancer journey can cause feelings of confusion and fear, all of which are normal. There are healthy ways to cope with the stress caused by these fears, such as mindfulness meditation, support groups or finding a creative outlet. Today’s guest has beat cancer not once, but twice! As a survivor of Lymphoma of the brain as well as breast cancer, Julia Evans knows firsthand how important it is to find ways to keep the faith and is committed to encouraging, educating and...

People diagnosed with breast cancer have many unique sources of stress. As we head into Mother’s Day, we will explore some of the challenges that mothers face in particular. Throughout the process, moms with breast cancer face the reality of maintaining a sense of normalcy for themselves and their children while balancing the emotional and physical toll of treatment. Today’s guest was diagnosed during the Covid pandemic, forcing change upon change. Here today, to share her story and how she...

Susan G. Komen has long worked to mobilize our communities to take action. Susan G. Komen’s Center for Public Policy serves as the leading voice of the more than 3.8 million breast cancer survivors, 168,000 people living with metastatic disease, and the scientists, health care professionals, caregivers and members of the public who are concerned about breast cancer. Komen works to educate people about public policy issues, so they are empowered to become forceful advocates for themselves and...

A breast cancer diagnosis can bring a wide range of emotions including shock, fear, sadness and anger. The support of family, friends and others can be helpful as you go through diagnosis, treatment and beyond. Thankfully, there are support groups to help you navigate breast cancer easier and to improve your quality of life during and after treatment. Today’s guest has dedicated her life to helping motivated patients overcome the challenges of breast cancer and to invest in their social,...

About 1-5 percent of breast cancers in the U.S are Inflammatory Breast Cancer. This is an aggressive form of breast cancer, with signs that tend to arise quickly, often within weeks or months. There are some challenges of diagnosing IBC, such as the fact that it may first be mistaken for an infection or mastitis because of its symptoms. Routine mammography may also miss IBC because of its rapid onset. Our guest today is Sara Diemer, who is here to share her story of living with Inflammatory...

Most breast cancers are not related to genes or family history. However, if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, your family members, especially sisters, daughters and mothers may have an increased risk of getting breast cancer. When cancer does affect multiple generations in a family, the impact can be far greater reaching than just the physical symptoms. Our guest today lost her mother to cancer at an impactful time in her life, was diagnosed with breast cancer 7 years ago, and is...

Sometimes pre-clinical studies show that a drug has a good chance of helping patients, but when the drug is tested on patients, it doesn't work as expected. Today, we are talking to Dr. Shom Goel, Group Leader and Medical Oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of Melbourne, in Australia & Komen-funded research scientist. He will talk with us today about the history of CDK4/6 inhibitors - how they initially failed but how scientists continued to work with them and...

Many scientific researchers face challenges in their work and the Covid-19 pandemic has only added to these challenges, but researchers are incredibly resilient and continue to push forward because they know their work will help patients and improve lives. Today, we are talking to Dr. Jennifer Guerriero, Instructor in Medicine and the Director of the Breast Tumor Immunology Laboratory at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Department of Surgery. Dr. Guerriero is a Komen-funded early career...

In the U.S today, Black women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age, in later stages, with more aggressive types and have a lower 5-year survival rate. These disparities aren’t just caused by health issues but also by social injustice—unequal access to health care, a lack of diversity in medical research and services, unaddressed cultural barriers and more. Michael Cox joins the show today to talk about these risks and normalize conversations about breast...

Breast cancer, unfortunately, can come back even if doctors believe the chances are low. We don’t know why breast cancer recurs or when it will – it could be as soon as a few years after you’ve completed treatment, or it can be 20 years later. As a breast cancer survivor, you can stay in charge of your breast health by knowing the warning signs of recurrence and talking with your doctor when something doesn’t feel quite right. Karen Sock joins the podcast to share her story. Special Guest:...

Our guest today knows first hand how important it is to stay on top of your breast health. Fashion designer Betsey Johnson was diagnosed with breast cancer 21 years ago and is here to share her story. Today is our 100th episode of Real Pink and we’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our listeners and amazing guests that we have on the show for their support and partnership in working towards our mission of saving lives and finding the cures for breast cancer! Special Guest:...

A breast cancer diagnosis was a catalyst for a major career change for Valeria McClure. Special Guest: Valencia McClure.