American cancer society sacramento

THEY'RE quite a team--the professional basketball player and the six other women whose stories follow. They are African-American breast cancer survivors and women with a game plan for survival.

They have dedicated their lives to preaching the gospel of early detection, regular check-ups and routine mammograms and to encouraging women to be proactive in their health choices.

Breast cancer can be beaten, they say, and they are here to tell how and why.

Sacramento Monarchs guard Edna Campbell rejoined the team last August for their final game of the season against the Seattle Storm. What is so remarkable about that is that the 5-foot-8-inch shooting guard sat out most of the 2002 season battling breast cancer. Campbell was diagnosed in February and is the first active player in the WNBA with this disease.

"I wanted to end the season on a positive note," says the 33-year-old. "I want to share with my teammates my victory. This is more than a game, and it's bigger than winning or losing."

Campbell says she first noticed the lump but thought it was the result of a hit in the chest during a basketball game. "I was actually icing it," she says, but then her doctor noticed the lump during a routine exam and recommended a mammogram. "Things snowballed from there," she says.

After her cancer was diagnosed last winter in Italy, she flew to the United States and had a small lump removed during one of two operations doctors performed. After completing chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Campbell dealt with the disease "head-on," with the support of family and friends, especially her son, David, and her baby sister Jovita. "I urge young women to pay attention to this disease; it's affecting us younger and younger."

Every year breast cancer kills 5,600 African-American women, in fact, breast cancer ranks second among causes of cancer death among Black women, according to the American Cancer Society. Although breast cancer cannot be prevented, it can be detected at an early, treatable stage. Five-year survival after treatment for early-stage breast cancer is 96 percent.

A number of organizations have joined together to promote early detection. WNBA star Lisa Leslie makes six appearances annually in support of the Sears/WNBA Breast Health Awareness program including a Public Service Announcement encouraging women to be proactive in their breast health.

The National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations recommends that all women have a mammogram every year, beginning at age 40. In addition, women should have a breast exam by a doctor or nurse, starting at age 20 and should perform a monthly breast self-exam.

Reona Berry is living proof that early detection saves lives. It saved hers. In 1990, shortly after Thanksgiving, she noticed a rash underneath her breast. The rash had been there for a while, but recently had grown painful and warm to the touch. "I recalled reading a breast cancer article the previous month and I immediately grabbed my EBONY magazine," Berry recalls. "And there it was, the article explaining how the cell activity could make the afflicted area hot." After being diagnosed, she joined a support group but noticed that there were few Sisters in attendance. So she started the African American Breast Cancer Alliance in Minneapolis. "It helps you to talk to other Black survivors because we go through issues that others may not," she says. "There are economic, family, and other lifestyle issues involved that keep women from going to see a doctor. If you don't have insurance, the last thing you're going to do is spend your money to go to a doctor when you have to feed your family and pay your bills."

As a 12-year survivor, Berry pulls no punches. "Breast cancer is a disease, not a punishment," she states. "Being assertive is key because cancer doesn't stop for us. We can't be afraid. We have to fight."

Fighting is surviving for Jackie Pugh, director of community outreach, the Contra Costa Breast Cancer Partnership. At the age of 28, she noticed that it was uncomfortable to sleep on one side of her body. Because of her age, and the lack of a family history of breast cancer, the first doctor she visited sent her home, twice. A second doctor diagnosed her cancer. She was shocked but not thrown off track. "There was no time for sadness." She had a small daughter (and her namesake, Jacque) to raise. "While I was sitting in the hospital, I knew that I was going to be proactive. I'm going to fight this thing and I just decided that whatever I was going to have to do to beat this thing that's what I was going to do."

She not only survived, she thrived and for two years in a row, she has spearheaded a project, a 24-month calendar of beautifully posed breast cancer survivors, entitled Celebrate: Reflections Beyond Surviving. Celebrating each day is Pugh's new mantra. "Surviving cancer is a reason to celebrate," she says excitedly. "We have gone through something that is very traumatic and we're still here. We're celebrating life because we know that God is good."

Cleveland's Geri Blair celebrates because she is a 17-year breast cancer survivor. She also celebrates survival because breast cancer is a family affair for her--there are 19 women in Blair's family who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. In response to their support needs and her own, she founded the Minority Women with Breast Cancer Uniting, Inc. support group that is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. Her husband and three sons are avid supporters of the cause and recruit for her group. One of her sons wears his pink ribbon in public. "Oh, he's a recruiter, definitely," Blair says, radiating with pride. "He'll be in line in the grocery store and start up a conversation with a complete stranger telling her about my battle with breast cancer, and urging her to attend our meetings or functions. And the women will show up."

Overcoming fear drives Karen Jackson, national president of Sisters Network, Inc., a national organization for African-American breast cancer survivors. The organization currently has 36 chapters all across the nation and Jackson has big expansion plans. "I actually want us to be larger and more successful. I feel we should be international by now," she says. "We have found that some of the other countries do not have what we have and we have a long way to go. They need support and education." In April Jackson found herself offering support much closer to home, when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancel She says the diagnosis was easier because she had been through it with herself and with others. "The fear factor was not there for me, I was able to assist my mom to not be as fearful as one would normally be once you are diagnosed with breast cancer."

Jackson says Sister Network is launching a 4-point plan of attack against breast cancer--support, education, advocacy and research. And the research component is spreading its wings. "We have been blessed to have a partnership with MD Anderson Cancer Center, the largest cancer center in the country that focuses on African-American women and sexuality, reproduction and menopause. It is for us, about us and I am very thrilled about it."

What all of these survivors have in common is their positive outlook and their willingness to speak out about pursuing annual physicals and performing self-exams. They asked questions and wouldn't let up until they were answered.

Leah Freeman was only 27 when she was first diagnosed. Now, 30, she says she is fearless in pursuing her survival. "They gave me the most aggressive treatment that they could because of my age," she says. "I had a radical mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and now I'm on Tamoxifen for five years." She sums up her life in two categories--pre-cancer and post-cancer. "I come to work early in the morning so that I can get home and spend that time with my kids. And I'm trying to make young women around me more aware that breast cancer is not an old woman's disease."

GOODBYE BREAST CANCER BLUES, HELLO LOVE

BREAST cancer survivor Zora Brown Rowland married her seventh-grade sweetheart because he was completely unfazed by the changes in her outer appearance. After a chance meeting, the two discovered that the old fire was still burning. But before things went too far, she looked him in the eyes and said, "I have something to tell you. I had a bi-level mastectomy and have no breasts." "Wow," he shot back, "just like you were back in the seventh grade."

"That literally broke the ice," Rowland recalled. "We both laughed and laughed. That's when I knew he was the one. And on July 28, 2001, we married in Oklahoma in 110-degree weather."

Today his support is even stronger. The couple have spearheaded several breast cancer awareness projects together, including Men In Action, a program designed to educate African-American men and to let them know how to get involved.