WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, SportsBreast cancer website matches patients, treatments

Breast cancer website matches patients, treatments

(NBC) - Two-time breast cancer survivor Valerie Gardner wants the best treatment available, but with so many trials out there, she found it overwhelming to research which was best for her.

"After my initial diagnosis actually, I became interested in finding out about clinical studies," Gardner said.

One website she says that helped is fresh on the web - breastcancertrials.org.

Gardner jokes that it's like match.com. You put in your personal information and the site matches you up with a trial that could be right for you.

"In working with this website, suddenly I get choices,” Gardner said. “I have decisions to make. I get to do what I want to do and what's best for me, so it's a very empowering feeling."

There are hundreds of breast cancer trials going on throughout the country.

Elly Cohen, a breast cancer survivor who manages the site out of UCSF, says many patients don't realize they qualify.

"One of the biggest myths is that trials are only for people who have run out of options. That's really not the case at all,” said Cohen.

In fact, there are trials for breast cancer prevention, for post cancer patients and for people who have been recently diagnosed.

Right now, Dr. Laura Esserman is looking for hundreds of patients to participate in a clinical trial for women with advanced breast cancer.

She says such trials are the key to finding a cure. Esserman says clinical trials are how treatments become viable.

"Everything we have ever learned about breast cancer, every advance has come out of clinical trials and I think that we can very soon see a time when people don't have to worry about dying from breast cancer," she said.

It's a website making a life saving connection to treatment, helping women now and in the future.

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