COUNT ALL METASTATIC BREAST CANCER PATIENTS
The Issue
WHY ARE WE NOT COUNTED? WHY ARE WE NOT SEEN?
Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) is Stage IV breast cancer. It is currently incurable. Yet people who develop metastatic disease after an earlier breast cancer diagnosis can disappear from the national cancer data used to understand our disease. We must change this.
Approximately 20–30% of early breast cancer patients may eventually develop metastatic disease, and an estimated 117 people die from breast cancer every day in the United States. Worldwide, approximately 685,000 people died from breast cancer in 2025. Behind every statistic is a human life: A mother. A daughter. A sister. A partner. A friend.
IF WE ARE NOT COUNTED, HOW CAN WE BE FULLY UNDERSTOOD?
How many people are living with MBC? How many developed MBC after an earlier diagnosis? How long do they live? Which treatments are working? Where are the greatest unmet needs? We cannot answer these questions adequately without better tracking of metastatic recurrence.
SEER and other U.S. cancer surveillance systems provide essential information about cancer diagnoses and outcomes, but recurrent metastatic disease is not routinely captured as a new cancer diagnosis.
That creates a critical gap in understanding the true MBC burden.
WE DEMAND ACTION.
We call on the CDC, NCI, SEER, NIH, FDA, Congress, federal policymakers, researchers, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to:
1. COUNT ALL MBC PATIENTS — including those whose cancer becomes metastatic after an earlier diagnosis.
2. TRACK METASTATIC RECURRENCE — so patients do not disappear from the data after their original breast cancer diagnosis.
3. MEASURE THE TRUE MBC BURDEN — including incidence, prevalence, survival, mortality and disparities.
4. PRIORITIZE MBC RESEARCH — especially research focused on metastasis and finding a cure.
5. ACCELERATE PROMISING TREATMENTS — moving discoveries from the laboratory to clinical trials and, when proven safe and effective, to patients faster.
6. PRIORITIZE MBC IN CLINICAL TRIALS — giving people living with Stage IV disease meaningful opportunities to participate in innovative research.
TIME MATTERS. EVERY LIFE MATTERS.
For people living with MBC, time is not just a statistic. It is another birthday. Another holiday. Another year with our children. Another morning with the people we love. Innovation is not enough if it does not reach patients.
We need better data.
We need more research.
We need faster progress.
We need a cure.
WE ARE NOT INVISIBLE. WE ARE HERE.
COUNT US.
TRACK US.
RESEARCH US.
PRIORITIZE US.
SAVE LIVES.
PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION.
Demand that ALL people living with metastatic breast cancer — including those whose cancer recurs after an earlier diagnosis — are counted and represented in U.S. cancer surveillance.
Because we cannot fully understand MBC if we cannot see everyone living with it.
Because every patient deserves to count.
COUNT ALL MBC PATIENTS.
MAKE MBC VISIBLE.
ACCELERATE RESEARCH.
SAVE LIVES.
We don’t run out of hope.
WE RUN OUT OF TIME.
80
The Issue
WHY ARE WE NOT COUNTED? WHY ARE WE NOT SEEN?
Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) is Stage IV breast cancer. It is currently incurable. Yet people who develop metastatic disease after an earlier breast cancer diagnosis can disappear from the national cancer data used to understand our disease. We must change this.
Approximately 20–30% of early breast cancer patients may eventually develop metastatic disease, and an estimated 117 people die from breast cancer every day in the United States. Worldwide, approximately 685,000 people died from breast cancer in 2025. Behind every statistic is a human life: A mother. A daughter. A sister. A partner. A friend.
IF WE ARE NOT COUNTED, HOW CAN WE BE FULLY UNDERSTOOD?
How many people are living with MBC? How many developed MBC after an earlier diagnosis? How long do they live? Which treatments are working? Where are the greatest unmet needs? We cannot answer these questions adequately without better tracking of metastatic recurrence.
SEER and other U.S. cancer surveillance systems provide essential information about cancer diagnoses and outcomes, but recurrent metastatic disease is not routinely captured as a new cancer diagnosis.
That creates a critical gap in understanding the true MBC burden.
WE DEMAND ACTION.
We call on the CDC, NCI, SEER, NIH, FDA, Congress, federal policymakers, researchers, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to:
1. COUNT ALL MBC PATIENTS — including those whose cancer becomes metastatic after an earlier diagnosis.
2. TRACK METASTATIC RECURRENCE — so patients do not disappear from the data after their original breast cancer diagnosis.
3. MEASURE THE TRUE MBC BURDEN — including incidence, prevalence, survival, mortality and disparities.
4. PRIORITIZE MBC RESEARCH — especially research focused on metastasis and finding a cure.
5. ACCELERATE PROMISING TREATMENTS — moving discoveries from the laboratory to clinical trials and, when proven safe and effective, to patients faster.
6. PRIORITIZE MBC IN CLINICAL TRIALS — giving people living with Stage IV disease meaningful opportunities to participate in innovative research.
TIME MATTERS. EVERY LIFE MATTERS.
For people living with MBC, time is not just a statistic. It is another birthday. Another holiday. Another year with our children. Another morning with the people we love. Innovation is not enough if it does not reach patients.
We need better data.
We need more research.
We need faster progress.
We need a cure.
WE ARE NOT INVISIBLE. WE ARE HERE.
COUNT US.
TRACK US.
RESEARCH US.
PRIORITIZE US.
SAVE LIVES.
PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION.
Demand that ALL people living with metastatic breast cancer — including those whose cancer recurs after an earlier diagnosis — are counted and represented in U.S. cancer surveillance.
Because we cannot fully understand MBC if we cannot see everyone living with it.
Because every patient deserves to count.
COUNT ALL MBC PATIENTS.
MAKE MBC VISIBLE.
ACCELERATE RESEARCH.
SAVE LIVES.
We don’t run out of hope.
WE RUN OUT OF TIME.
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Petition created on September 21, 2026