By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Each year thousands of women across the nation are diagnosed with breast cancer. For many, it’s a lonely journey with countless unanswered questions. But for some, a blueprint of survival has been laid by the women in their families who stared down a breast cancer diagnosis and lived to tell their stories.
For Dr. Michelle Taylor, Baltimore City’s newly appointed health commissioner, her breast cancer diagnosis came with help from her mother, Rita Works, who was a survivor herself.
In an interview with the AFRO, the mother-daughter duo shared information on their breast cancer journeys and emphasized how regular testing, awareness of family medical history and education opened up a world of possibilities for them.
“I was just a couple of months past 40 when a routine mammogram showed two spots on my right breast,” said Dr. Michelle Taylor, 49. “Given my age, it was shocking for all of us.”
Taylor is now a survivor, 10 years later.
For her mother, the diagnosis was a bit different.
Works, 69, said she learned of her diagnosis during a trip to the emergency room, where doctors discovered a lump in her breast while running other tests. Works has been on her breast cancer journey for 13 years. Though she and her daughter were victorious in her fight, Works still speaks of her twin sister who didn’t make it.
For Works, her late twin sisters’ journey with breast cancer put fear into the members of the family.
Works said, at first, her sister decided to get one breast removed.
“Everything was supposed to go okay,” said Works. “She went into remission for a year and a half, and when it came back it had metastasized.”
Works said at that point, there was no correcting it. Her sister went through chemotherapy, trying to treat the disease, but ultimately it was not effective enough.
“For our family, for a long time breast cancer felt like a death sentence,” said Taylor.
But due to medical advancements and Taylor going through medical training herself, she was diagnosed with breast cancer she understood that there were options. Both Taylor and Works chose double mastectomies instead of chemotherapy, to avoid living year to year in fear of recurrence.
“If you catch it early, it may be minimal,” said Works, to those who may not want to get checked out for fear of the results. “You have choices. The earlier you find it, the more choices you have. You need to just go find out.”
Experts stress that it is especially important for Black women to know their family medical history, stay informed and keep up with regular breast cancer screenings.
“For our family, we understood that –given our history– it was important to lower our risk of recurrence as much as possible,” said Taylor. “We were always very vigilant about mammograms to make sure that if we had lumps in our breasts we went and got them checked out.”
According to a study from the National Library of Medicine, 5 to 10 percent of diagnosed breast cancer cases are hereditary. Chances of developing breast cancer are increased if a person inherits mutations to certain genes.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), “BRCA1 (BReast CAncer gene 1) and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer gene 2) are genes that produce proteins that help repair damaged DNA. Everyone has two copies of each of these genes—one copy inherited from each parent.”
NCI reports that “people who inherit a harmful change (also called a mutation or pathogenic variant) in one of these genes have increased risks of several cancers—most notably breast and ovarian cancer, but also several other types of cancer.”
Aside from an increased chance of developing cancer, NCI officials say “people who have inherited a harmful change in BRCA1 or BRCA2 also tend to develop cancer at younger ages than people who do not have such a variant.”
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, someone with a genetic mutation has approximately a 50 percent chance of passing that trait to their children.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that around 3 percent of breast cancers develop due to mutations in BRCA genes. Around 50 out of 100 women with a mutation in their BRCA genes will get breast cancer by the time they turn 70, compared to just 7 out of 100 women in the general U.S. population.
Taylor said it is key that Black women know they can advocate for themselves in the doctor’s office. If one doctor is not listening–seek another.
“Take someone with you to appointments—you may only hear 25 percent of what the doctor tells you,” said Taylor.
“I was at every one of my mom’s appointments, I was her note taker,” she said. “She was at every one of my appointments, she was my note taker.”
Works shared a word of encouragement for women who have been newly diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Keep your head up, stay positive, lean on your family and friends, and don’t give up hope,” said Works. “Even if you don’t have family, you have friends, church members and community groups.”
Taylor echoed this sentiment.
“The main thing is not to sit at home and be by yourself and wallow-in-worry,” said Taylor. “Always know there’s hope and people willing to assist you.”
Taylor, in her new role, said she will continue the work of the Baltimore City Health Department to ensure women throughout the city have the breast cancer resources they need, and make every effort to be a hands-on commissioner.
“Look to see me in your neighborhood,” Taylor told the AFRO. “We will be bringing every resource that the health department has to a community near you, to make sure that you know everything that we offer and that our partners offer.”