Kathy Corsey-Boes is nothing if not a fighter.

Whether it’s on Capitol Hill advocating on behalf of breast cancer patients or leading monthly support group meetings at Rockdale Medical Center, Coursey-Boes has followed her calling for the past nine years helping countless women and families affected by this disease.

But now the 50-year-old wife and mother is fighting her own battle with breast cancer again – she was first diagnosed at age 41. She recently learned she had stage four metastatic breast cancer and began her fourth round of chemotherapy in August. The cancer has metastasized, or spread, to her bones — ribs, sacrum, sternum, collar bone, one shoulder blade and femur.

"You feel kind of crushed," she said of learning the cancer is back yet again. "It’s like living on a roller coaster ride. You’re on a straight way and everything’s going well, then all of a sudden your markers jump and the scans start looking bad and the bottom drops out." Coursey-Boes is proactive in researching drugs and side effects and participates in mapping out her course of treatment with her doctor. "I do a lot of research on nutritional support, but I make sure my doctor knows everything I take," she said. Managing the side effects is crucial to her because she’s the mother of an active 13-year-old, Addie.

Working with the support group is vital to Coursey-Boes. "Newly diagnosed people need to see long-term survivors. Twenty-five to 30 percent of breast cancer patients will become metastatic. They need to know it’s not an automatic death sentence," she said.

In 2009, she was named one of eight "Pink Power Moms" nationally, earning her and her daughter a trip to Washington, D.C. But this was much more than just a sight-seeing trip. The Pink Power Moms lobbied Congress on issues impacting metastatic breast cancer patients. House Resolution 787 was passed declaring October 13th National Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Another matter was raising lifetime limits on medical insurance coverage. The amount set in the 1970s and still enforced with some companies was a $1 million lifetime limit. That is often not an adequate amount when battling a prolonged cancer. Due to the efforts of the Pink Power Moms along with many others, the limits have been reset to $750,000 per year.

Another point Coursey-Boes would like to drive home is the importance of proper breast self-exams. Given her family history — her mother had the disease, and her great-aunt and sister died from it — Coursey-Boes had mammograms faithfully. But her initial tumor didn’t show up in a mammogram or ultra sound. She discovered it during a self exam.

Despite setbacks, the cancer re-emerging and her older sister dying from the disease in January, Coursey-Boes chooses to reflect on what she can do and the unintended blessing brought on by her cancer. Next week, she heads to Purdue University to speak at a Metastatic Breast Cancer Network forum. During her second bout with the disease, her and her husband decided that she quit work and focus on getting well and being there for Addie. "Because of the cancer, I’ve been blessed to spend so much more time with Addie. That’s priceless," she said.

Coursey-Boes’ breast cancer support group meets the third Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. in the east wing of Rockdale Medical Center. To learn proper self exam techniques, go to http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/MoreInformation/BreastCancerEarlyDetection/breast-cancer-early-detection-a-c-s-recs-b-s-e