MELANIE SISK

Melanie was a wife, mom of two young boys, and working full-time as a Registered Nurse when she was diagnosed with Stage 1A Breast Cancer at the age of forty-three. She completed her recommended surgery and radiation and was on endocrine therapy. Melanie thought she had put cancer behind her because she did everything right. However, she was diagnosed with Metastatic Breast Cancer at the age of forty-seven. Much to her surprise, she was in the twenty to thirty percent of early-stage breast cancer patients that will be diagnosed with metastatic disease. Melanie was never educated on this reoccurrence percentage. Due to her metastatic treatment protocol and disease, she retired from her nursing career.

Melanie has dived into advocacy work with an urgency to do what she can, while she can. She helped to start and moderate a local support group in her area of North Carolina called Piedmont Triad METsters. She is a trained volunteer with Cancer Services, Inc. and a Peer to Peer Support Group Leader and Light Up MBC State Captain for METAvivor. She is a Living Beyond Breast Cancer 2023 Hear My Voice MBC leadership alumna and a mentor with Project Life. She also serves on the MBC Leadership Committee for Surviving Breast Cancer. She is also a part of the new initiative, PIK3CA Pathbreakers. Melanie wants to use her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing and her associate degree in information systems technology to help in her advocacy roles. She is excited about her individual membership in the MBC Alliance and is hoping to learn from others and help further the cause and mission of the Alliance. She has a true passion for the metastatic community.

When Melanie is not doing advocacy work you can find her spending time, enjoying her “new normal” life with her family including her husband and now, teenage boys.