‘The future is better than the past:’ Local women, researchers changing face of metastatic research

50 percent of women now survive 3+ years

June 7, 2019 1:56 PM

Christina Lorey,

Posted: June 7, 2019 1:56 PM

Updated: August 31, 2021 12:27 PM

by Christina Lorey

MADISON, Wis. — What does a woman living with breast cancer look like to you?

“I think people are shocked, they’re like, oh you look great!” said Loree Nelson. “I’m like, ‘What am I supposed to look like?'”

Nelson is part of a growing community of Madison women, fighting and beating the disease even though they’ll likely never defeat it.

“The timeline is half the people live two or three years, half the people live longer than that,” said Dr. Mark Burkard.

Nelson is now part of that second group; she’s been living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer for three years.

“I like to call it ‘stable Mable,'” said Nelson.

‘The future is better than the past:’ Local women, researchers changing face of metastatic research

In 2016, she found a cancerous lump on her breast that spread to spots on her spine and hip.

“We just kind of proceed until the cancer gets sneaky and moves around the drugs I’m on,” Nelson explained. She takes two pills, forms of oral chemo, to keep her cancer from further metastasizing.

There are side effects like fatigue and nausea, but the drugs are saving Nelson’s life.

“They say with all the research and all the stuff that’s out there now, it’s almost like if you were living with diabetes,” said Nelson. “It’s that same kind of management where you can still proceed with life.”

Burkard helps women like Nelson manage their metastatic cancer through his work at the Carbone Cancer Center.

“The future is better than the past,” said Burkard. “We only can look at the timeline of what happened to the people ten years ago. And among the people who live longer than that are people living much longer.”

He’s now trying to understand why and how some Madisonians are surviving 40 years after their initial diagnosis.

“We think if we can understand why they live so long, we can develop strategies to help other women survive longer,” Burkard explained.

“We’re interested in a future where there’s what we call a precision approach. Where we can better predict for each individual which medicine is going to help them,” he said.

Three years post-diagnosis , Nelson’s living her “new normal.”

“In my mind, I already have it, and it’s not ever going away,” said Nelson. “It’s not ever going to change, it’s only going to get worse, some day.”

For now, she’s not letting cancer consume her mind, or her body.

“I try to keep it in its space in my head and just try to live life,” said Nelson.

You can find her and her “Livin’ for Loree” team at this weekend’s More Than Pink walk, working to make treatment options more accessible for the 6 percent of women who, like her, are fighting Stage IV.

She’s taking each day as it comes, and not making plans too far into the future.

“It’s hard to make something like, ‘Oh in five years,’ I don’t think my head lets me,” she said.

Nelson’s also sharing lessons we should all learn.

“Nobody knows how long they’re going to be here,” she said. “I’ve got a sentence to me and my name, but I’m not ready to give in yet.”

So she’ll keep on living, loving, and laughing, while changing the way you think of women living with breast cancer.

If you’d like to help “Livin’ for Loree” reach their fundraising goal, you can donate here.

If you’d like to participate in this year’s walk, which is Saturday June 8, you can register here.

News 3 Now This Morning is highlighting the stories of local women fighting for a cure to breast cancer all month long in our “Why We Walk” series.

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