Mission & impact

Humble beginnings (1990)

Back in 1990, Marisa C. Weiss, MD, a radiation oncologist, was looking for resources and support for her patients who had completed treatment for early-stage breast cancer. Her analogue search — the Internet had just been introduced to the world, yet few knew what it was — yielded little and what she did find often wasn’t very useful. To address this, with the help of some of her patients, she held a conference. The goal was to provide a safe space where women could get accurate and easy-to-understand breast cancer information from medical experts, while finding and connecting with each other.  

Founding, naming a leader (1991-1996)

The desire of a few passionate individuals resonated with those who attended the conference, and ultimately led to the creation of Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) in 1991. The newly created organization quickly took hold, and in 1996, LBBC’s then-all volunteer leadership named Jean A. Sachs, MSS, MLSP, the organization’s first executive director (now chief executive officer). 

Moving beyond (1997-present)

As the number of people impacted by breast cancer continued to grow so did LBBC. Since naming Jean as LBBC’s leader in 1996, LBBC’s annual budget has grown from $100,000 to more than $6 million. 

Early on LBBC organized two annual conferences and produced a printed quarterly educational newsletter. Several years later, LBBC introduced the Breast Cancer Helpline (formerly the Survivors’ Helpline), which provides peer support services from volunteers with a personal history of breast cancer. These interactions with LBBC empowered them to make sense of their “new normal” and provided a place to interact with others sharing this experience.   

Today, thanks, in part, to Jean’s leadership, a carefully assembled talented and dedicated staff, an engaged board of directors, leadership volunteers, donors and partners who generously support the organization’s mission and work, and, the-now-ubiquitous Internet, LBBC is able to provide more high-quality and easy-to-access information, programs, and support online and in-person to more than 600,000 people annually in more places around the world than ever before.   

To fulfill our mission of providing trusted information and a community of support, we offer on-demand emotional, practical, and evidence-based content that is meaningful to those newly diagnosed, in treatment, post-treatment, and living with metastatic disease. 

The initial needs and passions that led to the creation of LBBC continue fuel us to find new ways to meet the information and support needs of our community.  

LBBC recognizes that every breast cancer experience is different. The organization is dedicated to addressing disparities in cancer care and developing programs to support those dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis. One way we do this is through our advocacy training programs.  In 2022 LBBC continued to empower people diagnosed with breast cancer to advocate for themselves and others and trained over 50 volunteers in the Hear My Voice and Young Advocate cohorts. There are over 400 alumni of these programs and many of them continue their outreach work on behalf of LBBC and other breast cancer organizations. You can learn about these programs and the many other ways our work is having a positive impact in our 2022 Impact Report.

LBBC is proud of the community of support we are building and grateful for all the leadership volunteers, donors and partners who support the mission and work of the organization to make a difference in the lives of people impacted by breast cancer.