More and more women are beating the odds and are survivors of breast cancer

31st October 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Kelly Parker
Contributing Writer

Over the years, the notion of breast cancer as a death sentence has become a thing of the past. Just ask Darlene Clark, who was given a stage four breast cancer diagnosis back in 2006. Even then; newly unemployed and without health benefits, she was able to continue to fight the disease — something not likely, if not for a great support system of family, friends and church members, and the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program.

Throughout the nation, cancer survivors and advocates are marking a historic milestone in the prevention and early detection of two of the deadliest cancers for women: The 10 millionth screening performed under the (NBCCEDP), which provides access to lifesaving cancer screenings and treatment for millions of low-income, uninsured and underinsured women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) administered program, has provided screening tests to nearly 4 million women and detected more than 37,000 cases of breast cancer since 1991 nationwide.

Clark, 67, figured she had no alternative but to succumb to the disease. A trusted friend along with Clark’s daughter, UNCF Regional Development Director Therese Badon (and wife of State Representative Austin Badon) however, thought otherwise.

“I decided I wasn’t going to do anything — simply because we had just come back from (Katrina) and I had lost my job as a property manager at Dillard University. COBRA is expensive, I could not afford that,” Clark said.

Badon, through Internet research, found the St. Thomas Medical Clinic and urged her mother to go in for an evaluation.

“My mother worked all of her life, sometimes two and three jobs, but after the storm, my mother lost her job and her insurance along with it, of course, “ Therese Badon told The Louisiana Weekly. “She was experiencing issues with her breast and as soon as I heard about this I went surfing on the Internet to see what resources were available for uninsured women.”

“So I went,” Clark says, “I had never been there; didn’t even know where it was. I met (then nurse practitioner) Denise Johnson.

Dr. Johnson has since become the clinical director of the Breast & Cervical Program at LSU (Univ­ersity Hospital) Health Sciences Center, but still keeps in contact with Clark.

“I couldn’t believe the type of care I received; it was like love,” Clark said. “When you went there, you felt that they cared about you and your personal situation. That is something I will never forget.”

After the diagnosis and six months of chemotherapy, giving up was not an option, according to the staff at the St. Thomas Medical Clinic.

“They rallied around me,” Clark told The Louisiana Weekly. “I was told that I was not going to die, that I was going to fight — and they were going to fight with me; and that I would survive. And this was in 2006, and of course it’s now 2011. And I did survive- stage four breast cancer.”

In Louisiana between 2004 and 2009, more than 32,500 women were screened by the program and 297 invasive breast cancers and 181 cervical cancers and precancerous lesions were detected.

At the St. Thomas Medical Clinic, an average of 3500 mammographies are done per year and about 35 cancers are detected. Early detection has made a vast impact in recent years. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are 9.8 million cancer survivors; with the largest group, being survivors of breast cancer (22 percent).

At the Breast and Cervical Health Program (LBCHP), the name of the screening program in Louisiana, 62 percent of the women served are racial/ethnic minorities.

“For 20 years this program has saved lives by offering breast and cervical cancer screenings to women who otherwise could not get them,” said Andrew Muhl, American Cancer Society Government Relations Director for Louisiana. “Medical advances in the prevention and early detection of cancer are responsible for a 20-year decline in death rates from the disease, but Americans without access to proven screening tests cannot benefit.”

Therese Badon echoes Muhl’s sentiments.

“These types of facilities are much needed for women,” she adds. “Unfortunately, many women avoid breast exams totally because they lack insurance coverage for the screenings, don’t have the means to travel to a healthcare provider, or because they fear the results and the end outcome if they don’t have insurance. Breast cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence. Thanks to St. Thomas Community Health Center and God’s healing grace, my mother is alive today.”

Since its establishment in 1991, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program has been implemented in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, four U.S. territories and 13 American Indian/Alaska Native organizations. The program offers breast and cervical cancer screenings to more than 500,000 women every year, targeting racial and ethnic minorities, who tend to have lower screening rates for these cancers.

“Having centers available like St. Thomas makes a huge difference in how women respond to their diagnoses,” Badon says. “Once my mother was diagnosed, she wasn’t left to battle this stage four breast cancer alone. Of course she had her family, but what she really needed was doctors to treat the disease before it overcame her. “

“Here I was — no employment, uninsured, with stage four breast cancer,” she says. “It was wonderful to go there and to be treated as if I had a million dollars to pay for my services,” Clark laughs.

Clark is now paying it forward by telling her story to local unemployed/uninsured/low-income women.

“If they are diagnosed, they don’t have to sit and worry about how they will be taken care of. They can go to the (LSU/University Hospital) Breast Center or St. Thomas Clinic, and they will be well taken care of.”

Her advice to women is to fight fear and worry by taking advantage of programs like the Early Detection program. “There’s a new saying now; It says-fight like a girl, and I love that. I fought like a girl, and I won.”

For more information on local programs, visit http://lab­chp.lsu­hsc.edu and http://sttho­mas­chc.org. For those looking to serve as advocacy volunteers, go to www.acscan.org/volunteer to sign up or call 1-800-227-2345.

This article was originally published in the October 31, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper