Advocacy Through Education
Educate Others About Lobular Breast Cancer
Information on invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), also known as lobular breast cancer, can be hard to find in traditional breast cancer institutions and organizations. You can educate others about ILC and raise awareness in your local cancer community by working with the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA). LBCA supports education advocacy through periodic travel grants made to enable individuals to attend important breast cancer conferences and trainings. Scroll down to read about 2023 travel scholarship grantees’ experiences attending the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) in December 2023.
Educate and Elevate
- Start or join an LBCA Local Advocacy Team in your area: LBCA recently announced the initiation of LBCA Local Advocacy Teams, which invite ILC advocates who are interested in connecting with others locally to start regional action teams. The goal of these teams are to gather those in a common geographic area to further LBCA’s mission through in-person advocacy, developing social connections, and planning educational and fundraising events. If you would like to learn more, please contact the Local Advocacy Team Coordinator.
- Download and share ILC and LBCA materials with your local organizations, support groups, and at local events. Most of these materials can be found on our ILC Fact Sheet, our FAQs, or our For Patients pages. There is also a flyer about ILC and LBCA available for download.
- Watch our Advocate Chat series: Join other patient advocates as LBCA hosts discussions on topics to ensure individuals with a desire to educate others about ILC and to advocate for ILC research have the tools they need to do so. Watch past sessions here.
- Spread the word about ILC: Not all breast cancers form a lump! Share the facts about sneaky ILC on social media, with friends and family, at events, and among your networks to educate others about ILC. Our sample social media posts may be helpful.
- Organize lobular education forums and ILC-focused events or activities through your local breast cancer organizations, hospitals, and research institutions.
- Suggest that information about ILC be included in educational materials and on websites that omit or make no distinction between lobular and other cancers.
- Participate in online groups and discussions, and share reliably sourced news and information about ILC. Use our ILC Fact Sheet.
- Share your personal ILC story, and your connection to LBCA, and why YOU think lobular breast cancer needs more research! Here are examples of stories. If you would like to share your story, please email communications@lobularbreastcancer.org to request more information on how to submit a story.
- “I have LOBULAR breast cancer.” ILC is commonly referred to simply as “breast cancer,” resulting in many people having never heard of lobular breast cancer. ILC lags behind the broader breast cancer community both in education and research. A simple way to educate others that not all breast cancer is the same is to be specific referring to ILC in conversations and interactions with peers, clinicians, or online to spark more conversations and questions about the differences in lobular breast disease. You can also share this flyer about the different breast cancer subtypes.
- Speak up and ask the question, “What about lobular?” when attending breast cancer presentations, webinars, and meetings to engage the conversation and communicate the need to learn more about ILC and advance efficient research.
- Contact us at info@lobularbreastcancer.org to let us know your great work to spread the word about lobular breast cancer, or if you have questions about educating about ILC and LBCA’s ILC materials.
LBCA’s SABCS23 Travel Scholars Describe Their Experiences
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium held annually in December is the biggest breast cancer science conference in the world. It is located in downtown San Antonio between the historic Alamo, the Tower of the Americas and the scenic Riverwalk. Last year there were over 10,000 attendees including clinicians, basic scientists, students, and patient advocates. The conference runs over 4 days and includes twice daily poster sessions featuring thousands of research results with the poster authors on hand to present and answer questions themselves. Spotlight sessions and special short video presentations pepper each day. There is also a massive hall of exhibitors and advocacy organization booths. There is a patient advocate program that runs throughout with special advocate-focused sessions during the day and highlights of each day’s presentations shared in lay terms each evening. There is also a patient advocate lounge that offers free meals and snacks, monitors for watching some of the conference proceedings from afar, and an overall amazing networking space.
LBCA supports patient advocates’ – new and seasoned – attendance at this conference by providing a travel scholarship program that includes a competitive application process. Successful applicants receive a significant portion of their travel costs reimbursed and in exchange agree to write about their experience at the conference to help inform others who have never attended.
LBCA’s scholarship attendees’ write-ups vary from some that describe the specific research that struck them or particular sessions and presentations, and some that focus more on the overall experience of being there. Some include both. Some offer tips for others who may be contemplating attending their first conference, such as Kathleen whose write up includes suggestions on what to ask yourself when thinking about attending your first SABCS. She goes on to share “When I first signed up for the SABCS, I thought this would be a one-time experience for me—I’d go and see what there was to see, and hear what there was to hear, just this once. But I now have it as my goal to go back each year…”
You can read the full accounts by each of LBCA’s 5 scholars who attended SABCS23 below.
