Hi Sheila,
I am just starting down this path of breast cancer and am fortunate that my metastatic breast cancer is slow moving, so I have the time to participate in a study. The one I am participating in is the ISPY study. This study is good in that its mission is to determine ways to treat cancer is more nuanced ways instead of the one-blast-fits-all ways that have been used in the past. This study gives me a more focused and appropriate treatment for MY cancer, PLUS much of the study-related treatment is funded by the study, keeping my costs down. To me it was an easy decision to participate in this study. It also gives me the hope that my participation will help others. The chance to think that I am helping others and not always be thinking about my own problems is also a relief!