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If there's one message you can take away from this story, know that breast cancer is not a death sentence. This truth may come as a relief in an age when Black women, although less likely to get breast cancer than their White counterparts, are more likely to die from it when they do. "Finding breast cancer early-before it has spread from the breast-means a 97 percent five-year survival rate," explains Dwight Randle, Ph.D., senior scientific adviser for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. We found four women who are working toward keeping that statistic strong. Together, they prove why it's important that women in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and beyond stay on the front lines of the fight against the most common cancer in Black women.
20s: Too Young to Die
Meka Flowers, 27
Two winters ago, Meka Flowers was lifting a box at her warehouse job when she felt a surprising, sharp pain in her left breast. At that moment, she decided that a growing lump she had discovered there during a routine self-exam several months earlier was a bigger problem than she originally thought. Flowers, a single mom in Waterbury, Connecticut, then called the number on the back of her health insurance card and located a surgeon who could do a biopsy. After the procedure, Flowers learned she had cancer. She was only 25.
Dealing With the News
"I hear people say all the time that God won't put more on you than you can bear," she says. "But you never really understand until it happens to you how completely devastating most people think breast cancer is. Most people would have given up. But how could I give up when God has my back and I still have a life to live and a child to raise?" 
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Thankfully, Flowers acted on the cancer at an early enough stage that she could beat it. She made an appointment to see an oncologist recommended by her surgeon and began a course of treatment that included a lumpectomy (which is the removal of the cancer tumor and tissue closely surrounding it), chemotherapy and radiation.
Two Surprises As She Healed
The most difficult part of the ordeal, which Flowers did not anticipate, was not being able to pick up her then 2-year-old daughter, Ronyce. "At times, I just couldn't do certain things with her," she explains. Her mother, her daughter's father and her church helped create a support network for her. A woman in her church named Ms. Parker took her to most of her doctor's appointments, the pastor's wife called every other day, and others pitched in.
What stunned her most, Flowers says, is that wigs became one of her favorite fashion accessories. "After I got over the shock of being bald, I came up with a rule for myself: Don't come out of the house looking a mess just because you have cancer," she says. "When people see that you don't look a hot mess, that shows that you are not letting it get the best of you."
Staying One Step Ahead
Flowers, who is now a television rep for a hospital, has had mammograms every six months to stay vigilant should the cancer return. Patients usually go back to annual mammograms one full year after diagnosis, and additional breast-imaging techniques (such as an MRI) may be used as well. Flowers's advice for other women her age: "Start breast exams early, and do them every month," she says. "Just do it."
What You Need to Know in Your 20s
Begin monthly breast self-exams at age 20. "The one thing I hear from younger patients is, 'I'm not sure if I am doing this right. I am always feeling something.' That's why we ask you to start early, so you understand what your body feels like," says Jocelyn Rapelyea, M.D., a radiologist with the George Washington University School of Medicine. You can find
instructions at breastcancer.org and komen.org. Get clinical breast exams every year, beginning at age 20. If you feel a persistent lump, your doctor may order a sonogram.
Continue to the next page for more from our 30s, 40s and beyond survivors and what you precautions you can take.»
Related links:
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Find out more about the Warriors in Pink campaign and see ESSENCE Editor-in-Chief Angela Burt-Murray get a mammogram and more. »
Have a survival story of your own? Share it or words of encouragement to those battling breast cancer below. |
