Breast Cancer Awareness: Self-defense a Critical Tool for Black Women

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — As we celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Eyewitness News is sounding the alarm for Black women. Despite significant advances in healthcare overall, this year’s facts and figures from the American Cancer Society show that Black women continue to face a breast cancer crisis due to unique challenges and circumstances.

The odds were stacked against Courtney Clark as a young black woman who knew something didn’t feel right. “I’m a third grade teacher. I’m a mother of two and I’m married,” she said as she introduced herself. Clark is also a survivor. Two years ago, while breastfeeding her daughter, she felt a lump. She described her experience with a healthcare provider: “She honestly laughed at me and told me it was just a constipated milk duck because I was breastfeeding. I had never breastfed before. It was my first child, so I thought she maybe was right. So I felt really stupid.

A year later, while she was 23 weeks pregnant with her second child, she felt another lump in the same breast. This time, Clark was scheduled for an appointment at The Rose Breast Center. An ultrasound confirmed it was cancer. She said: ‘Of course there were tears straight away because I was pregnant. I didn’t know what I was going to do or how to feel.’ Her medical team, including a fetal medicine doctor, came up with a treatment plan that would save both her life and that of her son. Now Antonio is a healthy toddler, and his mother is cancer-free despite all odds.

Dr. Anish Meerasahib of the American Cancer Society said, “Black women have a 38% chance of dying from breast cancer compared to their counterparts, and that is the most disturbing fact.” The doctor also said that black women are more likely to be diagnosed with more aggressive forms of breast cancer, and that’s something they and their doctors need to understand. “Know the data,” said Meerasahib, “there is an increased risk of breast cancer and an increased risk of dying from breast cancer. But if you catch it early, the recovery rate is almost exactly the same as for white women, native Indians or Hispanic women.”

Early detection is critical, which is why Clark wondered what would have happened if she had been taken seriously the first time she went to the doctor. “Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have had chemotherapy while I was pregnant, or had to worry about making it because I was pregnant, or worried about my son,” she said.

Those fears now make her want to use her voice in an effort to end the Black breast cancer crisis. She said: “I love being able to tell my story. It makes me emotional because it was my life. But I feel like if I can tell my story and talk about how everything went, maybe I could save someone else’s life.” .”