JACKSON – October is Breast Cancer Awareness month but one particular type of it will be spotlighted during an upcoming fundraising walk.
The second METAvivor Glow Walk will open at 5:45 p.m. at the Jackson Justice Complex, 1 Jackson Drive on October 11. This event is unique because it will have teams wearing bright clothing and carrying glow-in-the-dark gear.
Breast cancer survivor Jessica Fioretti, 45, of Jackson, REACHED out to The Jackson Times about the fundraiser. She’s coordinating it with Kristi Halpin, 33, of Toms River who was diagnosed at 31 with Stage 4 de novo invasive lobular carcinoma, hormone positive, HER2 negative breast cancer and Melissa LaPorta, 45, Howell who was diagnosed at 37 with Stage 3C invasive ductal carcinoma.
Fioretti was very pleased with the phenomenal turnout of last year’s inaugural event.
“We are holding it as a glow in the dark event because we are shining a light a metastatic breast cancer,” she explained.
She said the fundraiser is designed to highlight the importance of critical funding for metastatic breast cancer research, also known as Stage 4, where the cancer has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body.
“Similar to last year we’ll have different vendor tables set up and a lot of the local businesses that sponsored the event will be there. This year we will actually have a survivor thriver area for women with whatever stage of breast cancer they are in or where survivors can come in and connect and get some resources and meet one another and have a sense of community there,” Fioretti said.
She added, “Fit Chicks food truck is coming, Mr. Softee will be there, we have Party Zone who is DJing the event and they are from Jackson and we hope to have some donations of light refreshments, some water and snacks and glow in the dark accessories and for everyone to have a good time.”
“We’ll walk around the Justice Complex which is about a mile or more. We are looking forward to a really good event. Last year we raised about $30,000 and we hope to get to $50,000 or double our goal from last year,” Fioretti said.
Fioretti added that all the money is going to METAvivor. “They are the only foundation that gives all their fundraising donations Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.”
Unlike the breast cancer awareness campaign that sports a theme of pink with a ribbon, “metastatic breast cancer has a tri-colored ribbon and we have those colors represented on our shirts,” she added.
Metastatic 4 breast cancer awareness colors are pink, teal blue and green. “There is so much awareness out there and so much pink out there and that is fabulous but the metastatic community is so underrecognized. That is one of the reasons I am advocating for this. We are bringing this event to the community as it needs more awareness and needs more funding.”
Fioretti stressed, “the community members who are metastatic need more support. I don’t think people really realize how much some of these bigger organizations actually donate funds to Stage 4. The bigger foundations raise millions of dollars every year for breast cancer however only two to five percent of that fundraising money from those foundations goes to stage 4 research.”
“That is why there are organizations like Breast Cancer Research Foundation and METAvivor. A good portion of that funding goes specifically to Stage 4,” she added.
Fioretti also explained that this funding goes toward research and approval for medications “like the ones I am on, that increase survival rates. So many young women are being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
She said, “it is so important to fund the research to be able to get newer medications, different lines of treatment to help improve survival and ultimately find a cure. If we can cure Stage 4, we can cure all breast cancers.”
Some important facts about Metastatic 4 Breast Cancer include:
- Approximately 30% of early-stage breast cancer survivors will have a recurrence as metastatic disease
- Metastases can occur as early as several months to 25+ years after treatment
- 685,000 people a year die from metastatic breast cancer globally
- Only 31% of U.S. MBC patients live longer than 5 years, and only 11% of live longer than 10 years
- There is no cure
Fioretti told The Jackson Times last year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. “I went through what I had to and was just shy of my fourth year of being cancer free and felt a lump in my arm pit. I did all the testing and it came back that I was having a reoccurrence of breast cancer.”
She said recently, “there are so many things that have come out of research in the past year. I’ve been doing very well. The scans in the beginning of the summer came back great. I have no evidence of active disease which is where you want to be and stay at Stage 4.”
For more information visit metavivor.org and to register for the event, visit jacksonmetavivorglowwalk.raceroster.com. There is a LightUpMBC link where people can donate to the Jackson event and it will stay up for a while afterwards at LightUpMBC.org/about-us
The LightUpMBC website will also feature a live stream event on October 13 for National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Fioretti and Halpin will be featured as part of their patient stories segment.
