Finding a Purpose Through Metastatic Breast Cancer

Metastatic breast cancer has allowed Susan G. Komen Central and Southern New Jersey board member Melissa Surdez to find purpose not just in inspiring others with cancer, but in helping them cope with the COVID-19 pandemic as well. 

After being treated for aggressive triple positive stage 3 metastatic breast cancer in 2010 at the age of 40, Surdez thought her experience with cancer was complete, until two years later, when pain that she attributed to her gall bladder turned out to be the return of her cancer. 

But thanks to immediate and aggressive treatment that she remains on to this day, she is here eight years later, “living her best life with stage four breast cancer”. Here, Surdez talked with us about how Komen helped her find a community, and how her experience as a patient has prepared her for navigating treatment and making connections through a global pandemic.