Two women struggle for survival
Ollie Cunningham took every precaution she could.
Given her family history, she knew she was at a higher risk to contract cancer. Her mother and two of her sisters had already been diagnosed with some form of the disease.
Cunningham didn’t wait until she turned 40 years old to have an annual mammogram, as recommended by the American Cancer Society.
She started her testing at the age of 25 and, for the next 35 years, she was vigilant with her self-examinations and annual screenings. She knew that mammograms could often find lumps too small to detect by hand. She also knew if cancers were found at this stage, the chances of recovery were more successful.
Last January, 60-year-old Cunningham went to her screening and received the news that she had been dreading for decades: she had a lump in her breast.
“The doctors told me I would not have found [the lump] on my own because it was so small,” she recalls. “If I wasn’t having regular mammograms, I might not have found it until it was at an advanced stage.”
Doctors ordered an ultrasound and a biopsy that revealed that Cunningham did indeed have breast cancer.
“I was not okay,” she says struggling through tears. “The first thing I thought was ‘This is it. I’m going to die.’ My sister died of breast cancer and this is how I thought I would die too.”
Cunningham’s fears were not unfounded. Cancer is the second highest cause of death in this country. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women with a death rate second only to that for lung cancer.
Because Cunningham’s tumor was found at an early stage, she was eligible for a lumpectomy, a breast conserving surgery in which only the tumor and surrounding tissue are removed. Cunningham had her surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and then completed her treatment of radiation and hormone therapy at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
It was not easy, but so far it seems that the treatment has been successful. Cunningham had her first normal mammogram and is in remission.
The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2006 roughly 275,000 new breast cancers will be diagnosed in this country, and that 15 percent of all female deaths from cancer will be attributed to breast cancer.
The racial disparities are startling. While the incidence of breast cancer nationwide is 21 percent higher in white women, the death rates are 34 percent higher in black women. The statistics in Boston are similar — 95.3 percent of black women over the age of 40 report having had a mammogram compared to 91.7 percent of white women. Yet, black women had a 14 percent higher death rate from breast cancer.
The reasons for the disparity between white and black women are under investigation. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggested that some young black women with certain genetic traits are more prone than white women to develop a type of tumor that is more deadly and harder to treat. Similar types of breast cancer have been found in young women in Africa.
Another study indicated that obesity in post-menopausal women could be a risk factor in developing breast cancer. The findings showed that the addition of just five pounds could increase the risk, and that those who gained 55 pounds since the age of 18 were 45 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who maintained their weight. On a positive note, postmenopausal women who lost weight reduced their risk of cancer.
The results of the second study indicate that life style may play a role in the risk of breast cancer. Obesity has been linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and other related illnesses.
In 2004, the death rate for black women in Massachusetts for stroke was 35 percent higher than that for white women; 83 percent higher for diabetes, and 200 percent higher for kidney disease. Obesity is a contributing factor to all these illnesses.
By all accounts, many women are too busy with the health of others or the daily stresses of life to worry about their own health. Such was the case with Venatia Jones, 46.
She readily admits that she ignored her own health to care for her ailing mother and teenaged son. But neglecting one’s health is never a good thing.
Jones discovered a small lump in her breast while getting dressed one day, and was urged by her family to go to the doctor. Jones, who was laid off from her job five months earlier, was terrified about being diagnosed with breast cancer without having health insurance.
She now was forced to make a choice—her breast or her life.
“When the doctor called and told me I had cancer, I was worried about what I would do,” she says. “I was very sad and very angry. I am a woman of color who has worked since the age of 14, and now, when I have no insurance, I have cancer.”
Jones became connected to the Women’s Health Network, a state and federally funded program that offers free screening and diagnostic testing for breast and cervical cancer for uninsured women, and assists in enrollment in MassHealth for those who qualify.
Soon after, she underwent a mastectomy of her right breast and also had several lymph nodes removed, as the cancer had spread.
“I didn’t think it was a big deal to have a mastectomy,” explains Jones. “I didn’t see a need for [my breast] – I had no babies to feed and had no problem choosing my life over my breast.”
Jones later discovered that she had both of the genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer (BRCA1 and BRCA2), and underwent additional surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy to prevent the spread of the disease.
But Jones underestimated the emotional connection that she, as a woman, had to her breast. Her self-esteem plummeted, but she eventually reached a turning point.
Wanting to move on with her life, Jones decided not to get reconstruction surgery and instead, focused her energy on connecting with other women who are dealing with breast cancer.
“Culturally, we [black women] are the strong ones — we put our own health on the back burner,” says the Roxbury resident. “I know many women who are suffering and don’t even tell their families. Fear is a big part of this and that is why support groups are so important.”
Jones is a part of the Spirit Wise Sisters support group, sponsored by the YWCA for African-American breast cancer survivors, as well as REACH 2010. She also volunteers with One to One, a group run out of Dana-Farber that connects volunteers to patients with similar diagnoses to their own, to answer questions and help prevent the isolation that occurs with many cancer patients.
“I tell people ‘Don’t sit in your house and think that you have no choices. You can go to the hospital you want to go to. You can have access to good care. You just need to know how to get connected.’”
Based on her experience, Cunningham took that advice a step further.
Since January, Cunningham has been volunteering with Boston’s REACH 2010 Coalition (Racial and Ethnic Approach to Community Health), an organization that promotes screening, education and access to care for black women in regards to breast and cervical cancer.
She has also been featured in the Pink and Black campaign, sponsored by the Boston Public Health Commission, to bring awareness of breast cancer to the black community.
“I still cry, but it’s okay,” she says. “I am reaching out to people and this is going to be my journey — to support other sisters who are afraid to go get help.” |
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Venatia Jones (left) and Ollie Cunningham are breast cancer survivors.
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