Live from Stage 4: MBC News for Us, by Us

Symptoms Spotlight: Melanie's Updates on Sleep Apnea and Constipation

After recording our earlier Symptoms Spotlight episodes on sleep and constipation, Melanie Sisk comes back with real-life updates that prove these topics hit closer to home than she expected. First, Melanie shares her surprising new diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea, discovered thanks to a sharp-eyed friend at a cancer conference. She breaks down the symptoms to watch for, why they're so easy to confuse with cancer treatment side effects, and how simple the at-home sleep test really is. Then, Melanie reveals what happened after we recorded the constipation episode: her CT scan showed she was significantly constipated, leading to a gastroenterologist visit and a diagnosis of chronic constipation with diarrhea breakthrough, something she never saw coming, even as a nurse. Her takeaway? Don't automatically chalk every symptom up to cancer treatment. There may be something else going on that's very treatable. Both updates are a powerful reminder of the importance of primary care physicians and specialists who can see the full picture of your health beyond cancer. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe and leave a review — it really helps. Follow us on social media @livefromstage4 and visit our website at www.livefromstage4.org [http://www.livefromstage4.org/] for show notes and links.  Your support helps us continue to share important stories and advocate for those living with metastatic breast cancer. Until next time, take care and keep pushing for progress.

Developing Story: The Camizestrant Vote — When Your Blood Test Knows Before Your Scan Does

The ODAC Vote on Camizestrant & SERENA-6: A Patient Advocate Panel Weighs In When the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 6-3 against recommending approval of camizestrant in the SERENA-6 trial setting, the MBC community had questions and opinions. Host Victoria gathered six of the most informed patient advocates in the metastatic breast cancer space for an unfiltered, expert conversation about what the vote really means. In this episode: * What SERENA-6 was actually testing and why the trial design drew criticism * Why the ODAC vote was about when to switch therapy, not whether camizestrant is a good drug * The debate over progression-free survival vs. overall survival as endpoints * Molecular progression vs. radiologic progression and whether we're ready to act on ctDNA alone * The "burn through treatments" concern: what early switching means for long-term options * Insurance coverage gaps for liquid biopsy testing and the two-tier care system * Why patient advocates need a seat at the table before trials are designed and not after * What's next for camizestrant and the broader SERENA program Featuring: Janice Cowden, Jill Tirabassi, Ellen Landsberger, Abigail Johnston, Kelly Shanahan, and Lynda Weatherby The ODAC vote isn't the end of the road for camizestrant , but it raises important questions about how we define progression, design trials, and include patient voices in the process. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone navigating treatment decisions in hormone receptor-positive MBC. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe and leave a review — it really helps. Follow us on social media @livefromstage4 and visit our website at www.livefromstage4.org [http://www.livefromstage4.org/] for show notes and links.  Your support helps us continue to share important stories and advocate for those living with metastatic breast cancer. Until next time, take care and keep pushing for progress.

Front Row Seat: Dr. Fatima Cardoso on Aiming Higher - Hope and the Road to a Cure

In this episode of Life from Stage IV, host Victoria Goldberg sits down with Dr. Fátima Cardoso, Breast oncologist and president of the ABC Global Alliance, to unpack a landmark decade of progress — and confront what still needs to change. The ABC Global Alliance's 10-year global report is out, and the findings are both encouraging and sobering. Survival rates have improved. Patient advocacy has grown stronger. Quality-of-life research is finally catching up. But healthcare inequalities have actually worsened,vnot just between countries, but within them, and only 10% of cancer patients worldwide are enrolled in clinical trials. Dr. Cardoso and Victoria discuss: * Why HER2-positive patients are living 10–15+ years with metastatic disease, and what that means for the possibility of a cure * The growing divide between what's available in wealthy countries versus everywhere else * The fight to move clinical trials beyond progression-free survival toward overall survival * Why we still don't know how many people are living with metastatic breast cancer — and what Australia's groundbreaking count revealed * The new quality-of-life tool being developed specifically for metastatic patients * The charter for the next decade: what the global community is committing to from 2025–2035 This is a conversation about hard truths, hard-won victories, and a movement that refuses to settle for less. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe and leave a review — it really helps. Follow us on social media @livefromstage4 and visit our website at www.livefromstage4.org [http://www.livefromstage4.org/] for show notes and links.  Your support helps us continue to share important stories and advocate for those living with metastatic breast cancer. Until next time, take care and keep pushing for progress.

Front Row Seat: Can We Talk about the Cure? A Conversation with Dr. Eric Winer

For a long time, the word "cure" and "metastatic breast cancer" didn't belong in the same sentence. That's changing — and nobody is better positioned to explain why than today's guest. Dr. Eric Winer is one of the world's leading breast cancer oncologists and researchers, former president of ASCO, and director of the Yale Cancer Center. In this conversation with Victoria Goldberg, he tackles the question he posed at the 2025 ABC8 conference in Lisbon: Can we talk about the cure? In this episode: * Why HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer is the subtype closest to a cure — and what the biology tells us * The landmark trials rewriting the playbook: CLEOPATRA, PATINA, and DESTINY-Breast09 (DB-09) * What "curative hope" means and how Dr. Winer talks about it with his own patients * The truth about comparing DB-09 to CLEOPATRA — and why rushing to make Enhertu the universal first-line standard may be premature * Oligometastatic disease, cancer dormancy, and surgery in the metastatic setting * The emerging science of exercise and cancer outcomes — and why it's no longer just about quality of life * Two groundbreaking curative-intent trials: SAPPHO (Dana Farber) and HERizon-Breast (Memorial Sloan Kettering, now open for enrollment), and what sequential therapy is actually trying to do This is one of the most substantive, hopeful, and honest conversations we've had on Live from Stage IV — and one we've been waiting a long time to share. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Leave us a review, visit our website, and follow us on social media to stay connected with the latest in metastatic breast cancer research. The information shared in this episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your healthcare team about your individual treatment options. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe and leave a review — it really helps. Follow us on social media @livefromstage4 and visit our website at www.livefromstage4.org [http://www.livefromstage4.org/] for show notes and links.  Your support helps us continue to share important stories and advocate for those living with metastatic breast cancer. Until next time, take care and keep pushing for progress.

Thriving Together 2026: LBBC's MBC Conference Through Our Eyes

Every year, Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) brings together hundreds of people living with metastatic breast cancer for one of the most anticipated events in the MBC community, the Thriving Together MBC Conference. This year marked a milestone: the 20th anniversary. In this episode, the members of the podcast team Abigail Johnston, Dr. Jill Tirabassi, Dr. Ellen Landsberger, and Victoria Goldberg, all MBC patients themselves, sit down for an honest, heartfelt recap of the 2026 conference. They share what moved them, what they learned, and what keeps them coming back year after year. Topics covered include: * The emotional experience of walking into a room full of people living with MBC — for the first time and the tenth * Highlights from the scientific sessions, including insights from Dr. Virginia Borges and Dr. Seth Wander on personalized medicine, ctDNA, and the explosion of new treatment options * The power of patient-centered programming and why Thriving Together hits differently than ASCO or SABCS * Favorite sessions: expressive writing, reading scans and research, and the Spinning Science workshop * The growing presence of caregivers and families at the conference * Suggestions for future programming, including tracks for long-term survivors and pre-conference prep for the newly diagnosed * A look at LBBC's Hear My Voice advocacy program, Project Life, and what the next 20 years might bring Whether you've been to Thriving Together ten times or have never heard of it, this episode will make you want to be in that room. Resources mentioned: * Living Beyond Breast Cancer [https://www.lbbc.org/] * Project Life [https://www.projectlifembc.org/] * Spinning Science (via Project Life) * Hear My Voice Advocacy Program (LBBC) Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, subscribe and leave a review — it really helps. Follow us on social media @livefromstage4 and visit our website at www.livefromstage4.org [http://www.livefromstage4.org/] for show notes and links.  Your support helps us continue to share important stories and advocate for those living with metastatic breast cancer. Until next time, take care and keep pushing for progress.