Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance Launches Cross-Country Awareness Tour to Address Breast Cancer Visibility Gap

Boston, USA, Sept. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- “It’s Time to Talk About Lobular Breast Cancer” campaign will travel from San Francisco to Boston, bringing urgently needed national attention to invasive lobular carcinoma.

The Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA) is launching a cross-country awareness tour to bring more visibility to lobular breast cancer. From September 26 through October 15, a coach bus featuring the faces of people affected by lobular breast cancer and key facts about the disease will travel from San Francisco to Boston, serving as a rolling educational billboard and call to action: It’s Time to Talk About Lobular Breast Cancer.

The tour comes at a time when awareness of lobular breast cancer, the second most common type of breast cancer also known as invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), remains alarmingly low. The American Cancer Society has reported that nearly 50,000 people are diagnosed with lobular breast cancer in the United States each year, and cases are increasing faster than other breast cancer types. Broader awareness of ILC is important because it behaves differently than other types, doesn’t always form a lump, and is often missed on mammograms. Yet LBCA surveys show four in five Americans have never heard of it. Even among people diagnosed with breast cancer, nearly half—47%—say they had not heard of lobular breast cancer.

“Too many people have never heard of lobular breast cancer though it is 15% of all breast cancer diagnoses,” said Laurie Hutcheson, LBCA Executive Director and ILC survivor. “And despite how relatively common it is and the peculiarities in how it grows and behaves, it has been overlooked by research. It receives less than 1% of breast cancer research funding, so it does not yet have lobular-specific treatments. LBCA felt compelled to take decisive action to change this. We want patients, families, healthcare professionals, researchers and communities across the country to learn about ILC now, and to understand how critical the need is for more focused ILC research.”“When I was diagnosed in 2014 no one told me anything about lobular breast cancer, and I was shocked to learn this is still happening to women 12 years later,” said Gladys Bettis, "Mama Bus" mother of NFL Hall of Fame and Pittsburgh Steelers running back “The Bus” Jerome Bettis. “There has been so little research into lobular breast cancer. There is still no specific treatment and no good way to monitor whether it will recur. To hear that it is not being studied makes it harder for women diagnosed and their families to feel hope about a cure. That is why I am on board with the LBCA Bus - because it's time to talk about lobular breast cancer!" "Help us spread the word about lobular breast cancer, an underfunded and understudied type of breast cancer, so more patients have information about early detection, which is exactly what saved my life,” said Mary Nam, Emmy Award-winning Evening News Anchor formerly at KOMO News in Seattle, Washington, who was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer when she was 40.

Coast-to-coast campaign

The LBCA awareness bus tour departs from San Francisco following the ILC Symposium on September 26 and concludes in Boston on October 15, Lobular Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Along the way, the tour will visit more than a dozen cities, several hospital-based ILC programs, athletic events and ILC patient gatherings.

At each stop, LBCA will share information about lobular breast cancer, elevate the voices and stories of people affected by ILC, and connect communities with the organization’s educational resources.

“Visibility matters: It shapes understanding, improves patient empowerment, drives research attention and helps ensure that people affected by lobular breast cancer are not left to navigate a distinct disease in the shadows of a broader breast cancer conversation,” said Hutcheson. “Every mile traveled, every story shared and every conversation started can help improve the future for lobular breast cancer patients.”

Call to participate

LBCA is inviting lobular breast cancer patients, healthcare professionals, supporters and the public to participate by attending city-stop events, sharing lobular breast cancer information, volunteering, or making a donation.

For information about the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance’s cross-country awareness tour, opportunities to get involved or ways to support the campaign, visit lobularbreastcancer.org.

About the Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance (LBCA)

Founded in 2017 by individuals with invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), LBCA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of ILC and the need for more ILC research. As the only organization in the US dedicated to lobular breast disease, LBCA is committed to making all who are touched by ILC aware of its unique characteristics and the critical need for more ILC research. LBCA is the go-to source for information on lobular breast cancer including current studies, lobular-specific clinical trials, and educational content and resources patients can use in conversations with their care teams available in over fifteen languages. LBCA is committed to promoting and funding vital ILC research. The organization is guided by an international scientific advisory board of researchers and clinicians, and a patient advocate advisory board and partners with patients, scientists, clinicians, and breast cancer organizations worldwide to increase dialogue and collaboration about ILC research.

Visit the LBCA website at lobularbreastcancer.org.

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• Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance

Sophia Coville-Carney
Brodeur Partners
scarney@brodeur.com

Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance

Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance