LIVED EXPERIENCE ... RESEARCH ... ADVOCACY
THE COVER STORY ... LIVED EXPERIENCE
Caley Ashpole on finding community, making room for life and having somewhere to turn.
Explore the conversationA NOTE ON OUR PURPOSE
A considered space for people living with metastatic breast cancer ... where lived experience is heard, research is made clearer and the whole person belongs.
The idea behind the collective01 / RESEARCH & UNDERSTANDING
Caley’s journal reflections on ctDNA and HER2+ breast cancer ... a starting point for questions to discuss with your treating team.
Read on Caley’s journal
Watch the Q&A ... 1 minuteA QUESTION FROM THE COMMUNITY
Caley shares her understanding of the terms while living with stage 4 HER2 positive breast cancer. Watch her answer with captions or read the full transcript.
Watch & read Caley’s answerPersonal experience and general education ... your oncology team can interpret your own scans and results.
Published by MBC Hub ... lived experience video with captions. The conversation includes terminal cancer and anticipatory grief.
You start to gather a new community where you're in this together.
CALEY ... FROM HER PUBLISHED STORY
THE CONVERSATION EDIT ... CALEY ASHPOLE
A readable Q&A companion to Caley’s published story. The answers below are editorial summaries of that source, not a new interview or a verbatim transcript.
Caley describes feeling alone after diagnosis and finding connection through MBC Action Australia with others navigating similar uncertainty.
She wanted information relevant to her experience, understandable terminology and prompts for questions to ask at appointments.
In her account, having an accessible resource helped family members understand unfamiliar language and learn alongside her.
Source: Caley’s story, MBC Hub. Source page reviewed 12 October 2026. These are individual experiences, not treatment advice.
Q&A ... UNDERSTANDING THE WORDS
A starting point for understanding the words ... with links to established Australian information sources. Your treating team can explain what they mean for you.
It means breast cancer has spread to distant parts of the body. It is also called secondary or stage 4 breast cancer.
Read Cancer Australia’s overviewBreast Cancer Trials provides metastatic breast cancer information and trial resources. Your treating team can discuss whether a particular trial is relevant to you.
Explore Breast Cancer TrialsWrite down the questions that matter most to you, ask which symptoms need prompt contact and clarify who to call between appointments.
Explore BCNA’s information and supportLIVING LONGER ... DOCUMENTED EXPERIENCES
Exceptional individual experiences can offer perspective. They do not predict another person’s future.
METASTATIC YEARS REPORTED IN 2018
The university’s account distinguishes 36 years with metastatic disease from 40 years since her initial breast cancer diagnosis.
Read the original university storyA HISTORICAL ACCOUNT ... 1979 TO 2009
Her narrative dates metastatic confirmation to February 1979. Her biography records her death in December 2009.
Read Rita’s accountDates describe what the sources document. Historical stories are not extended without verified updates. No ranking, cure claim or survival promise is intended.
WIGS, HAIR & FEELING LIKE YOURSELF
A space for the everyday choices that can matter during treatment. Personal experiences and commercial features will be clearly labelled.
Human hair wigs and personal choice ... a possible collaboration Caley would like to explore. No partnership, discount or gifted arrangement is confirmed.
Explore the wig collectionA hair care brand under consideration for a personal feature. No collaboration is confirmed. This listing makes no claim about treatment related hair loss or regrowth.
Explore Maeba Hair6 resources ... check services and eligibility directly.
Links are resources, not claims of partnership. The collective does not provide clinical care or a helpline.
FOUNDED BY CALEY ASHPOLE
A dedicated space for metastatic breast cancer information, lived experience and advocacy.