My husbands grandmother recently died of cancer, while it was not breast cancer it was still cancer.  She was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma and lived for 3 years after her diagnosis.  During that time she endured many rounds of chemo and radiation therapy.  In her 2nd year she was diagnosed with brain mets, she woke up one day and was completely confused, we brought her to the ER and they immediately consulted her oncologist, we were told the devastating news.  They warned us it would not be long now and yet it was longer than was expected.  For this we were grateful and we were able to enjoy her presence for yet another year.  We were able to have a full 3 years with her after her initial diagnosis, cancer treatment has come a long way over the past decade and with my help and your help it will continue to submit to technology and medicine.