Encouragement (In Suffering, Pain, and Witnessing Both…) #15: Words From the Founder of the ONLY Breast Cancer Survivors Group Made Up of Women of Color!

The older I get, the more suffering and pain I’ve experienced; and the more of both I stand witness to. From my wife’s (and many, many of our friends and coworkers) battle against breast cancer; to my dad’s (and the parents of many of our friends and coworkers) process as he fades away as this complex disease breaks the connections between more and more memories, I have become not only frustrated with suffering, pain, and having to watch both, I have been witness to the suffering and pain among the students I serve as a school counselor. I have become angry and sometimes paralyzed. This is my attempt to lift myself from the occasional stifling grief that darkens my days…

Just for context, I have lived in the infamous city of Brooklyn Center…and not just in the city – about a mile-and-a-half from the Police Station that was front and center of the civil unrest following the murder of Daunte Wright. Demographics as of 2020:

Because of the civil unrest and because of these numbers, I started to wonder about both the incidence and treatment of women and men for both breast cancer and Alzheimer’s in communities with a large percentage of black and brown residents. I’ll get to that in the next several posts, but for today, I’m looking at encouragement in the face of breast cancer.

“Sisters Network® Inc. (SNI), founded in 1994, by visionary Karen Eubanks Jackson, is a leading voice and only national African American breast cancer survivorship organization in the United States. Their purpose is to save lives and provide a broader scope of knowledge that addresses the breast cancer survivorship crisis affecting African American women around the country.”

“As she learned more about the impact of the disease in the African American community, she found a staggering breast cancer mortality rate, limited culturally sensitive materials, and a general lack of support and sisterhood for those diagnosed. She has endeavored to make a difference on a national level, by breaking through the silence and shame of breast cancer that immobilize many African American women and ultimately impede early detection and affect survival rates.”

When asked about successes in the program, Jackson went on to tell a rare, but deeply inspiring story: “A woman approached me who had heard of Sisters Network. She was scared, so I went with her to the doctor, who confirmed that she did have cancer. Although she had her own accounting business, she didn’t have health insurance. The reason this case is unusual, is that I just happened to have an opportunity to go on a radio program to talk about Sisters Network, and I shared this woman’s story. We were attempting to raise money to help her cover the cost of treatment. Shockingly, someone contacted us to pay for her treatment—an anonymous donor.

“This was a wonderful but unusual story. Really, every day we have success stories. We are out there talking to women in our community about breast health, helping the newly diagnosed, and providing support to long-term survivors. We’re providing the education that they need and connecting them to resources.”

“There is hope. Get over the initial shock and fear of the words “breast cancer” and get on with living. I personally know many long-term survivors. I am a 26-year survivor; one of our members is a 15-year triple- negative survivor. There is hope.”

Resources: https://www.sistersnetworkinc.org/mission.html, https://conquer-magazine.com/issues/special-issues/april-2020-breast-cancer/1219-finding-strength-in-the-company-of-her-sisters-an-interview-with-karen-eubanks-jackson-of-sisters-network
Data source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/brooyn-center-mn-population

Image: http://www.quoteambition.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/encourage-quotes-destiny.jpg