The Health Alliance Network (HAN) is gearing up to celebrate the 10th anniversary of “Her Story Matters” event on Dec. 21, an annual celebration and award ceremony honoring breast cancer survivors across the African diaspora who are making an impact in the District of Columbia.
Ten years ago, Ambrose Lane Jr., chair of HAN, along with his wife Dr. Nura Green Lane, convened with residents across the city at the Dorothy I. Height Neighborhood Library for the organization’s monthly health meeting. What started as a routine meeting became an emotional conversation between women sharing their stories and challenges while fighting breast cancer. These moments inspired the inception of “Her Story Matters,” the hallmark event highlighting Black women grappling with the disease.
“It was at that moment that I decided that we will take this on as an issue and honor Black women, and in particular, Black women of D.C.,” said Lane Jr. “We are now not just honoring people from the [District], but we’re honoring people from the African diaspora as well.”
Although breast cancer is a commonly discussed health issue, many breast cancer patients often undergo the challenges and hardships of the disease in silence. The Lanes wanted to create an honorary event and space where women’s stories could be uplifted, heard, and celebrated.
“Being someone who is a health advocate, it was important to me, especially knowing that my wife’s mother is a breast cancer survivor,” Lane Jr. told the Informer.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is ranked as “the second most common cancer among women in the United States.”
While non-Hispanic white women lead in the highest rates of breast cancer nationwide, African American women are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive types and have a higher death rate from the disease than other racial and ethnic groups.
However, in Washington, D.C. Black women are most affected by breast cancer in all ways. In Washington, D.C., African American women are reported to have a higher incidence rate of breast cancer than white women at 139.4 per 100,000, along with a mortality rate that is two times higher than white women at 33.2 deaths per 100,000.
Further, breast cancer is also the most commonly diagnosed cancer across the District of Columbia and the third leading cause of cancer death.
Supporting Women Through the Storm of Illness
The figures alone spark concern about the welfare of District women diagnosed with the disease, but the unique challenges Black women residing East of the River face, have given breast cancer survivors like Vicky Russell-Walton and Mary Douglas-Brown all the more reason to help others overcome their health battles.
Having spearheaded support groups of their own, Russell-Walton and Douglas-Brown are previous “Her Story Matters” award recipients, acknowledged for their admirable strength and community efforts.
“I love it because we get to celebrate each other, and that’s something that we don’t often do because we’re so busy. We don’t like the spotlight on us, but it’s OK to get your flowers. It’s OK to be loved on, and we deserve it,” Russell-Walton said.
A two-time breast cancer survivor, Russell-Walton knows the perilous journey of breast cancer quite well, as she was first diagnosed in 2007 after her cancer was initially overlooked by doctors as a benign tumor. Considering her family history of cancer and determined to get to the bottom of her persisting symptoms, she pushed for answers until the disease was found and officially diagnosed.
She later went through two lumpectomies, a surgical procedure to remove a breast tumor and a small amount of surrounding tissue, which led her to a clear margin. But after five years in the clear, she eventually learned that the cancer had come back, and this time she said, “with a vengeance.”
Russell-Walton attributes her mother’s no-nonsense strength and faith in God to helping her overcome the worst of her journey. She soon found herself wanting to sow the same seeds of hope into women across the D.C. metropolitan area who were facing the journey with little to no encouragement and resources.
P.I.N.K.I.E parties for breast cancer awareness, hosted by It’s In The Genes LLC, became Russell-Walton’s community-wide event to encourage women to get breast examinations. Low turnout to the first few events compelled her to question the barriers standing between women with breast cancer and their willingness to seek testing and treatment.
“At first, nobody was showing up. And I kept saying, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ Well, then you have to listen to them. What are the barriers that keep you from getting your mammogram, from going to get your screening, from you going to get your treatment?” Russell-Walton told The Informer.
The challenges of child care, transportation costs, insurance coverage, and sustaining income during chemotherapy sessions were some of the most prevalent concerns for District women.
Despite pushback, Russell-Walton continued to pour into breast cancer patients East of the Anacostia River, working to earn grants and partnering with medical centers including Howard University Hospital, United Medical Center, MedStar, Luminis, and Community of Hope, to afford women access to care and support they needed to fight the disease.
“I take this seriously. I know the hardships, I know the barriers, I understand being afraid, I understand all of that. But at the end of the day, it’s still a disease that we still have. We’ve not conquered this yet,” Russell-Walton explained.
Similarly, Douglas-Brown, health coordinator at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, also felt compelled to connect with women in support of their cancer journey after her diagnosis in 2004. She was the first person to be diagnosed with breast cancer in her family at stage 2, before three of her sisters also developed the disease behind her.
The 74-year-old breast cancer survivor emphasizes the importance of meeting annual testing, which helped to detect her non-invasive breast cancer before it developed further. Her experiences with support groups while undergoing treatment inspired her efforts to launch her own breast safe space for women struggling with the emotional toll of the disease.
Remaining optimistic amid her journey, Douglas-Brown works to instill a winning mindset among her counterparts struggling to keep themselves mentally afloat.
“Just because you have cancer, don’t let cancer have you. You’ve got to fight. I had a fight in me that I didn’t even know I had,” Douglas-Brown told The Informer.
Her support group has continued to meet and connect women across the District for the past 17 years.
