Fighting for a Breast Cancer Cure

A breast cancer diagnosis is always devastating, but for some – like Noreen Fraser – it’s also motivating. After her disease returned, the Hollywood producer launched a groundbreaking foundation and televised fundraiser, raising millions to fund the search for a cure. In this exclusive interview, she talks frankly about her prognosis and her battle against the Big C…

With vigilant monitoring, new tumor-fighting drugs and a wicked sense of humor, Noreen Fraser has been battling breast cancer for nearly 10 years.

And for half that time, she has also fought to increase awareness and funding for women’s cancers through her Noreen Fraser Foundation.

“I have to make every effort possible to raise money to put into women’s cancer research so that – even if they don’t find a cure – they find more drugs to manage it,” she says.

Her largest production: the “Stand Up to Cancer” telethon she cofounded. It first aired in 2008 and returns at 8 PM ET/PT tonight on several TV networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO and Discovery Health.

But she’s not stopping there.

Believing that “comedy is a healer,” Fraser recently launched the Men for Women Now campaign, which teaches men how to help keep women they love healthy.

Stars from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ryan Seacrest appear in videos on the website, promoting the importance of prevention and early detection. And special events, such as an October Los Angeles comedy fundraiser, are planned to raise awareness.

Despite her success, Fraser still has dark days. In this exclusive Lifescript interview, she discusses how she stays motivated with an incurable disease and why her fundraising approach is raising hope for a cure.

How advanced is your cancer?
I have Stage IV breast cancer. I thought it was cured, but it moved from my breast to my bones.

Once a cancer becomes metastatic – which means it moves from one place in your body to another – it’s in your bloodstream and it’s now incurable.
How do you manage the disease?
All you can do is try to treat it and keep it at bay. So, every three months I have my organs and bones scanned.

You were diagnosed in 2001 and have outlived medical expectations. Do you consider yourself a success story?
Yes, I am actually.

In 2001, I had Stage I, very simple breast cancer. There are seven different kinds. Mine was called estrogen positive, which means if there’s any estrogen in my system, it makes the cancer grow.

I didn’t need to do chemo and had a lumpectomy. I was told if I did radiation and took the drug tamoxifen [Nolvadex, Istubal, Valodex], which is an estrogen blocker, there was a 95% chance that the cancer would never come back.

I went on my merry way thinking, Whew, dodged that bullet. Two years later, in 2003, it came back.

At that time, they said, “Statistically, if you live five years, you’ll be lucky.” And it has been seven.

What’s its status today?
For nine years or so, the tumor markers in my blood never moved. They just stayed where they are. [This past] Thanksgiving, they started moving up, and, now, every month they’re moving up.

That means [the cancer is] active, but we don’t know where it is and we have to suppress it.

They put me on the next level of these estrogen blockers – letrozole (Femara) – when the cancer metastasized. Now they’re using the next one up, fulvestrant (Faslodex).

My numbers seem to be stabilizing. They’re not rising as quickly, but they’re still rising.

How did you feel when you were diagnosed?
Mad as hell.

I thought, Why me? I had no cancer in my family. I’m one of nine children and nobody has ever really been sick.
You have to go through shock, horror and crying. And the comforting from family and friends.

Getting a cancer diagnosis – especially when it’s metastatic and you know your mortality is on the line – first makes you angry. Then you have tons of fear. Finally, you just resign yourself to it.

Is that how you feel now?
I’m not resigning myself to dying, but I’m resigning myself to living with it. If I get lucky, it could be managed – possibly forever.

Then I may die of something else. Who knows?

What was your lowest point?
When I first got cancer, my children were 8 and 10.

I prayed I could be around to guide them until they were close to graduating high school. Those formative ages were so important, and that was my job.

It’s so unbelievably intense to think about leaving your kids. Now they’re 17 and 19.

I’m so grateful I’ve had these extra years, but I still don’t want to leave them.

When do you allow yourself to feel upset?
When I go in every three months for that [organ and bone] scan, I can’t help but be sad. It’s horrible.

Then I come home and don’t cook. [I tell my family,] “I’m not making dinner tonight. Everybody’s on their own. Get a pizza from the freezer.”

I don’t complain about it. Every day I have to run this foundation.

What role does your organization play in the fight against cancer?
We made $100 million from Stand Up to Cancer. And we gave away $175 million in May to five different [programs].
You have to find the best doctors out there and hit them with $10 million. And you’ve got to get them to share the information.

Right now, very few places share information. And that was what we created in the money-giving model for Stand Up to Cancer.

Why don’t researchers share information?
Because everyone wants to get the Nobel Prize. Do you know the prestige and money that comes from that?

From the top, they’re told, “We’ve got to come up with something big. The bigger things we come up with, the bigger funding we’ll get.”

How does “Stand Up to Cancer” break through that mind-set?
If they want money for a breast-cancer project, they have to align themselves with a doctor from Sloan-Kettering, Mayo Clinic, and Johns Hopkins. All have to agree that this is the best chance of making a difference in breast cancer.

How do you hold them accountable?
These people have to come back to us every year and present their progress.

And whether they’re hitting a dead end. [If that happens], we say, “Thank you very much; give us $8 million back.” And we’re going to give the $8 million to person No. 6 in line. That has never been done before.

Are you satisfied with the program's achievements?
That’s my legacy. But I also thought, Stand Up to Cancer is only every other year. What am I going to do every year?

That’s when I decided to find a niche no one was doing.

People love to laugh. I thought, Nobody’s using men or comedy. That’s when I came up with Men for Women Now.
What's that program’s goal?
It encourages men to ask a woman they love – whether it’s their mother, wife, sister or daughter – to schedule their mammogram and Pap smear. Because, right now, early detection is the only thing we have to save your life.

Women are busy working and taking care of the kids. It’s nice to have somebody, like your husband, nudge you, saying, “Hey honey, have you made your appointment for your mammogram? You’ve got to do it this week.”

It brings them into the loop with something proactive they can do.

How did you get that ball rolling?
I asked Jack Black to do a [video of himself getting a] mammogram, and everything went from there. It’s hilarious.

What else are you planning?
My whole philosophy is that comedy heals.

“Variety” is partnering with me, and we’re doing a live show called the Power of Comedy, benefitting the Noreen Fraser Foundation.

Who will be there?
A ton of comedians – all the guys on my website [stars include Black, Bob Saget and Zach Galifianakis] are going to perform.

We’ll sell seats, and I can make a lot of money for women’s cancer.

I’m going to turn it into a television show and do one comedy show a year called “Laugh Your Cancer Off.”

It’ll just be comedians performing and maybe a couple of doctors talking about the effect of endorphins [feel-good hormones] on your health.

What keeps you going in this fight against cancer?
I did it for selfish reasons. My daughter was my greatest motivator. I use my anger and hope for her and her future.

She's not dying from cancer, and neither are her girlfriends. I’m going to do something about this.
Whats your main message to women?
Thanks to public awareness and more frequent mammograms, deaths from breast cancer are declining, according to the American Cancer Society.

But women still need to perform routine breast checks.

The main warning sign is a lump in breast tissue. This is not to say all lumps are cancerous (some are scar tissue), but it’s a good idea to ask your doctor to examine any new or old lumps you find through at-home breast exams.

Only a doctor can give a breast cancer diagnosis through a biopsy.

What’s Your Breast Cancer Risk?
The biggest risk factor for developing breast cancer is simply being a woman, though a small percentage of men develop it, too. Fortunately, with better screening processes for early detection, breast cancer doesn't have to be fatal.