Susan Rafte: A 25+ Year Survivor of Metastatic Breast Cancer and Patient Advocate

In this episode The Onco’Zine Brief, recorded during the 42nd San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) held December 10 – 14, 2019 in San Antonio, Texas, Peter Hofland talks with Susan Rafte, a 25+ year survivor of metastatic breast cancer and patient advocate. In 1994, eight and a half months after birth to her daughter Marika, Susan Rafte, only 30 years old, was diagnosed with stage III ductal carcinoma. While she was pregnant with her daughter, she first felt a lump in her breast. Her doctors attributed the lump to her pregnancies. However, 18 months later, when Rafte pushed for a biopsy, the lump was diagnosed as a malignant tumor. Rafte was treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, by a multidisciplinary care team with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy. In 1995, soon after her initial treatment, Susan’s sister Jane Weiner, and three other dancers in New York City co-founded the Pink Ribbons Project®. After her recovery from a stem cell transplant in 1997, Jane and Susan brought the project to Houston. The Pink Ribbons Project® was the first arts and dance initiative founded solely to promote awareness about breast cancer and help raise funding for breast cancer advocacy and education. And over the Pink Ribbons Project’s lifetime, the organization raised more than US $ 6,000,000 for that cause. Beyond the Pink Ribbons Project and from the beginning of her diagnosis, Rafte has always been public about her disease. She felt it was important to spread awareness and provide education about breast health and breast cancer, because, as she explains: “I knew from personal experience that this disease has no boundaries.” As part of her work Rafte became a peer-to-peer support volunteer through MD Anderson Cancer Center. In 2000, Rafte helped start an on-site peer support program at the breast cancer center at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She also serves on many research projects and committees as a patient advocate. As a volunteer, Rafte’s involvements also includes dividing her volunteer hours with the Baylor College of Medicine, San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Breast Health Collaborative of Texas as well as the affiliations she holds with The Rose Diagnostic Center and Harris County Hospital Clinic – Breast Care Centers.