10-14-26 Beyond the Pink: Navigating Life with Metastatic Breast Cancer
When October comes, the pink does too. While we love the awareness, there’s a part of the breast cancer conversation that often gets left out: the one that affects about 168,000 women in the U.S. right now.
On this episode of Her Health Compass, we’re talking with Dr. Nicole Beck Clifford and Claire Bailardo, about Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, when the cancer has spread beyond the breast to other parts of the body. While there are some treatments available, there are no cures, and the women and men living with it deserve more than a ribbon. They deserve real information, critical research, and genuine support. This episode is for the women (and men) living with MBC and for those who love them, and for anyone who wants to understand what it truly means to navigate this diagnosis with grace, grit, and as much quality of life as possible.
Bio: Nicole Beck Clifford, DMD, MD, is a dedicated advocate for the metastatic breast cancer (MBC) community. Her commitment began in 2020, when her mother and cousin were both diagnosed with MBC. With a grandmother and two aunts who have also faced earlier-stage breast cancer, the disease has shaped her family’s story and her drive to create change. Nicole is also a previvor herself, giving her a personal understanding of what it means to live with an elevated breast cancer risk and to make proactive decisions about her health.
Nicole is a Co-Founder and Board Member of MBCure, a family-driven initiative that directs 100% of its net proceeds to MBC research, awareness, education, and access efforts. In 2025, MBCure launched the MBCure Research Consortium with three of the world’s leading cancer institutions: Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Fox Chase Cancer Center. This is an effort that brings breast oncologists and researchers together to fuel curative-intent MBC research.
Previously, as a member of METAvivor’s Board of Directors, Nicole led several of the organization’s largest fundraising events and served on the Executive Committee. She planned and executed the Board’s first ever Strategic Summit, producing a documented strategic growth plan with concrete action items. She also led the revision of key policies to strengthen fundraising guidelines and strategies and to improve how funds were allocated to internal operations to support the organization’s sustainable growth.
Utilizing her experience from business school and drawing on her perspective as a physician, a previvor, and a family member of patients, Nicole is especially passionate about addressing disparities in the allocation of breast cancer research funding, improving collaboration within academic medicine and research, and helping people understand their breast cancer risk, recommended screening guidelines based on their risk, and steps they may consider to reduce their risk.
Bio: Claire Bailardo is the creator and voice behind PerkyBits: Riding the Waves of Life Podcast, a space built around finding joy, humor, and meaning in all the messy bits of life. A wife, mom, stepmom, former kindergarten teacher, and 12 year breast cancer survivor now living with metastatic breast cancer, Claire shares her story with openness, humor, and heart.
Through her original PerkyBits blog from her early stage diagnosis in 2014 and now the PerkyBits Podcast, created in 2026, she talks about the real stuff—the scary moments, the funny ones, motherhood, cancer, wellness, everyday life, and everything in between. Her goal isn’t to pretend that life is always positive, but to show that even during the hardest chapters, there can still be laughter, connection, and beauty.
Find Yonni & Heather here https://www.herhealthcompass.com/
