CHAPTER ONE
Why Black Women Need to
Pay Close Attention to Cancer
and Cancer Screening
Hearing that you have breast cancer is a uniquely frightening experience
that often feels like time has suddenly stopped because you are engulfed
within a paralyzing terror. It’s sort of like being frozen in time, and it’s hard
to listen to anyone or even think a coherent thought because someone has
just told you that you have the “C word”—cancer. In the real world, how-
ever, time keeps ticking away despite how you feel, and despite your shock,
fear, panic, and all the many other emotions that you may experience when
you hear about your extremely distressing life-changing diagnosis.
You might be really scared even before you hear the diagnosis. When
my mammogram was fi nished and the doctor came in to say that he
needed “a few more pictures,” my heart sunk. I feared that it was cancer,
and I was right. I have had breast cancer twice in my life, and each time
that I heard the diagnosis, it felt like being kicked in the stomach or
maybe in the head. But I’m a fi ghter, and I worked with my doctor on the
treatment plan each time and followed it through all the way. After
I recovered from each incident of breast cancer, I decided that I needed to
share information about breast cancer with other women, which is why
I became a volunteer for the American Cancer Society. It is also why I did
my doctoral dissertation on the attitudes and behavior toward screening
for breast cancer among young black women. In addition, my desire to
share information with others is also why I wrote this book.
