Oct 13, 2009 10:32 pm US/Central
Breast Cancer Forum Held For Young Black Women
Black Women Under Age 40 Are More Likely To Get Breast Cancer Than White Women
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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"Students for African-American Sisterhood" held a breast cancer education event on October 8, 2009 at UIC.
CBS
Why are young black women more likely to get breast cancer than whites? It's a mystery that has troubled one local doctoral student. She found a lump in her breast at age 17. CBS 2's Anne State reports with her story, and her theory.
Her mother, grandmother and aunt all had breast cancer. She started doing self exams at 15. Two years later, she got a big scare, and a story she tells anyone who will listen.
Larissa Smith says she was in high school, about to graduate, when she found a lump in her breast.
"I found it when I was 17," Smith said. "So, I'm like 'Oh geez, do I have cancer, can I not go to college?'"
Smith related her experience to a group of young women at UIC. "Students for African-American Sisterhood" held a breast cancer education event on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Several young women in the audience told CBS 2 they've lost family to the disease.
Dominique Duffie's grandmother passed away a few years ago.
"She lost her hair, she had to get a wig. It was very hard seeing my grandma go through that," Duffie said.
According to the American Cancer Society, black women under the age of 40 are more likely to get breast cancer than whites.
"I'm struggling to figure out why is that the case," Smith said. "Is it the diet? Is it the environment? Is it stress? The fact that a lot of African-American women are single parents? That they grow up in neighborhoods where you have to be careful walking home?"
It just so happens Smith's lump was benign. She didn't have breast cancer. However, her mother was diagnosed with the disease earlier this year.
Smith says the lump was removed and her mother is now cancer-free.
At the end of the forum at UIC, all the women in the room raised their hands and pledged to do monthly self breast exams.
"Just do it now. Do it now," Smith said.
The American Cancer Society says that overall, white women are more likely to get breast cancer than African-Americans - except for women under 40.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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