Breast Cancer

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

/ D.B. Sieders / Leave a comment

UPDATE – Team Lab Rats raised $1,500 for Making Strides! Thank you to everyone who donated, bought my books in October, and for everyone who supported and shared fundraiser deets! I’ll be posting pictures from the event this weekend!

Me The Day Before My Breast Cancer Surgery

I’m thrilled to be a part of the 2019 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Initiative, sponsored by The American Cancer Society and Avon. American Cancer Society is a great organization, supporting researchers, patients, survivors, and clinicians. I’ve had the great fortune to serve as a peer reviewer for their research grants program, and I’ve got to tell you – there are some AMAZING new investigators across the United States working hard every day to find new treatments, better diagnostics, better interventions, and extending our knowledge of this complex and terrifying collection of diseases.

In addition to research, they fund patient transport to and from treatments, personal assistance to help patients understand their diagnosis and get the help they need, and one-on-one support for breast cancer patients. This is a fantastic organization that I’m proud to support as a researcher, advocate, and survivor.

I’m Team Leader for Team Lab Rats, and we’ve raised over $1,000 so far and growing! I’m also donating 100% of my October book royalties to this Making Strides Fundraiser. Pictures and updates to follow.

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with cancer, reach out to The American Cancer Society for accurate information, resources, and support. Knowledge is power. You are not alone.

Introduction

/ D.B. Sieders / 8 Comments

I love you with all my boobs. I would say my heart, but my boobs are bigger

Dr. Dana Brantley-Sieders, Ph.D. (photo credit Lillian Boeskool)

I’ve spent twenty years working as a biomedical breast cancer researcher. Then, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I thought I knew breast cancer before it whacked me upside my left boob and left me bleeding on the curb of uncertainty. I thought I knew cancer. I had a lot to learn. The purpose of this blog is to share my personal adventure with breast cancer, from the laboratory bench to my own bedside, and to provide accessible information about breast cancer biology for non-scientists. I say adventure, because I’d rather think of it as action movie with some really cool side quests instead of another tragedy-to-triumph saga. I’m not big on sagas. I am big on kickass intellectual badassery, pathological nerdiness, and talking about my sweet, sweet rack.

I’ll be posting about breast structure and function, how breast cancers arise from normal breast tissues. Notice I wrote “cancers” instead of “cancer.” Breast cancers are a actually a collection of diseases, and all breast cancers are different. To date, there are at least 5 subtypes, and subtypes within those subtypes.

It’s complicated, which is one reason why we haven’t cured these diseases. Another reason is how tricky and adaptable cancers are by their very nature. We’ll get into all of that in a few posts. In the meantime, let me get into the other purpose of this blog: fighting pseudoscience and scams with peer-reviewed, vetted science.

We live in an age of fake news and pseudoscience, made worse by the pervasive anti-intellectual and anti-science political culture gripping the United States and much of the world. The Internet and social media are plagued by scammers selling “alternative medicine” and woo woo “cures” for cancer. Through TALKING TATAS, I offer accurate, evidence-based science that is accessible to laypersons, including the more than three hundred thousand individuals diagnosed with breast cancer every year*, their caregivers, and their loved ones. Submit questions, ask for follow-up on any and all posts, be a part of the discussion. Knowledge is power, and it can save lives!

Welcome! I’m glad you’re here!