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VERONICA'S VIEW: A Breast Cancer Awareness Month Special - The Sister Study
*“I have breast cancer.”
Many women have uttered these four words.
This year, more that 200,000 women are expected to tell their families that they are the “one” out of eight women who the American Cancer Society estimates will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.
The question many of these women ask is -- why me?
There are certainly many known factors that predispose a woman to breast cancer such as her gender. The growth promoting affects of female hormones can be dynamic and visceral.
Age is another factor and studies have shown that a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer increases as she gets older.
Family history plays a big part too. A woman with a family history of breast cancer that includes her mother, sister and even father doubles their risk of developing the disease.
And there are other known factors that are believed to increase a woman’s risk such as early onset of menstruation, late onset of menopause, long-term use of hormone replacement therapy, alcohol consumption, obesity and high fat diets, and race -- with white women at a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer than women of other races.
However, there remain many unknowns when it comes to why some women in families develop breast cancer while others from that same family don’t. Finally, there is a new survey underway by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, an institute under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is seeking to understand why.
The study is called “The Sister Study” because it will study the lives of women whose sister has been diagnosed with breast cancer. It will explore if and how a woman’s environment and genes affect her chances of developing the disease.
Their goal is to recruit 50,000 women throughout the United States and Puerto Rico to participate in this landmark, 10-year study. To date about 22,000 women have signed up to participate in the study, with California leading the nation in the number of participants thus far.
However, less than 4,640 women who have signed up are women African American. And increasing their participation is critical to ensure that the results captured by the study benefit women of all races.
What researchers know is that while white women are more likely to develop breast cancer, African American women are more likely to die of it. For some reason, their cancer appears to develop at an earlier age and tends to grow much more aggressively. While these results are not conclusive, breast cancer does appear to affect African American women differently than other races. This is why the Sister Study is reaching out to African American women across the nation to participate in the study. They hope to get answers to help them better understand why this is happening.
Through a range of questions and interviews with participants, the study will take a thorough look at how a women’s genes and the elements she may come into contact with at home, work and in her community may influence her risk of developing breast cancer. Participants will also be asked to give a blood sample, have their blood pressure, height, weight, hip and waist circumference measurements taken. Some of the samples taken from participants include urine, toenail clippings and house dust.
To participant in the study, you have to have a blood sister – living or deceased -- who had breast cancer, be between the ages of 35 to 74, have never been diagnosed with breast cancer yourself, and live in the United States or Puerto Rico.
Los Angeles, California resident Donna Castleberry said she decided to participate in the study because she saw how first hand how aggressive breast cancer could be when her 46-year-old sister Gail died of it in 2003. “As soon as I saw they were doing this study, I knew I had to sign up,” said Donna, adding that she is doing the study to honor her sister. “I know I have to continue to fight the battle and believe we can find ways to prevent breast cancer.”
If you meet the requirements and would like to join the Sister Study, call 877-4SISTER or visit www.sisterstudy.org. And if you don’t meet the requirements, you can still help by telling others about the survey and becoming a Sister Study volunteer, so visit the website to find out how.
We all have to help fight this battle. Our survival depends upon it. (If you have comments about Veronica’s View, email them to vsview@yahoo.com)###
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