Tag: Continuing the Dream

Dr. Blue on Improving Myeloma Care for Black Patients

Post author By Katrina Villareal
Post date April 14, 2025
No Comments on Dr. Blue on Improving Myeloma Care for Black Patients

April 14, 2025

Dr. Blue on Improving Myeloma Care for Black Patients

Interviewed by: Stephanie Chuang
Edited by: Katrina Villareal and Chris Sanchez

Brandon Blue knew at a young age that he wanted to help people. Decades later, he’s done that and so much more, changing and saving the lives of people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Now known as Dr. Brandon Blue, he’s become a well-known hematologist-oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center, a comprehensive cancer research center recognized by the National Cancer Institute.

In this story, learn key tips on how people can make a difference for themselves and their health, and regarding what can help save lives, specifically for his specialty: multiple myeloma, an illness that disproportionately impacts people in his own communities, including Black/African-Americans.

In fact, despite how busy Dr. Blue is as someone who does research and helps countless patients, he decided to join a group of patients, advocates, and other myeloma stakeholders for more than two years to collaborate on how to improve the care of underserved groups like Black/African-American multiple myeloma patients and their families. They put together a report that was selected for presentation at the largest gathering of top doctors and researchers in blood cancer called the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting, a presentation led by a patient advocate named Oya Gilbert.

Watch this second episode of our series to hear about their top solutions on how to serve as many people as possible dealing with the hardships of a cancer diagnosis.

Thank you to Pfizer for supporting our patient education program. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

This interview has been edited for clarity. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider to make treatment decisions.

Table of Contents

My Path to Medicine
The Power of Realizing My Dreams
What is Multiple Myeloma?
Common Symptoms of Multiple Myeloma
Screening for Multiple Myeloma
Turning Conversation Into Action: A Collaborative Approach to Health Equity Solutions
My Recommendations for Patients and Care Partners

Whatever I do in life, it’s going to involve helping people.

My Path to Medicine

When I was a kid, I was always good at math and science. My mom always told me that if you get good grades, good things will happen. When I was a senior in high school, I wanted a senior ring, but we didn’t have the money for it. So my mom said, “Get a job, and then you can pay for it.” Right across the street from my house was a nursing home that had this big “Help Wanted” sign.

I went over there and asked if I could do any work for them. And they hired me right then and there. I realized I didn’t know what it meant to work in a nursing home. But it was fantastic for me because I got a chance to see people who needed a lot of help, and I realized, hey, I can help them. I worked in the kitchen, and my job was to deliver the food to the patients, so I didn’t help them medically, but I do think that I helped them in a way because I was very inquisitive.

So I’d always get in trouble for leaving the kitchen and going to talk to people. And I felt like I was drawn to people, and it was my chance to be able to talk to them. And that was my first glimpse of my mission. Whatever I do in life, it’s going to involve helping people.

In the nursing home, the holidays were a big deal. Unfortunately, families couldn’t come to visit many of the patients. I remember a lady with a terminal illness or condition. She didn’t have too long left to live, and her family wasn’t there during the holidays. So I knew that time spent with her meant the world to her because, sadly, that was probably her last Christmas. And so I decided I was going to sit with her for a little while. It was fantastic for her to spend time with someone again, especially during the holidays. That was something that I’ll never forget.

So, as a teenager, I decided that I wanted to help people, and I knew I was good at math and science. I thought, “Well, how can I put these together?” So, after high school, people started asking, “What are you going to do next?” And I thought, “Oh my gosh, they want me to have my life figured out at such an early age.” And so I responded, “I think a way that I can use my math and science skills to help people is to become a doctor.”

I knew nothing about being a doctor. But I had seen the doctors who were helping the people at the nursing home, and so that was how I first thought that I could do it, too. I didn’t know what it took, but at least that was my idea of what I wanted to do, even though I didn’t know what that path looked like.

I didn’t have any family members who were doctors. I didn’t have any guidance.

I saw my first Black/African-American doctor when I was in medical school. He was one of my teachers. For me, that was my first I-can-actually-do-this moment. It went from an abstract thought that I didn’t know how to actualize, to — this guy came from where I came from, and he talks like me, looks like me, and he’s making it. So maybe I can make it too.

I want to inspire people to say, “Hey, you go to school, you get good grades, and you can become a doctor.”

The Power of Realizing My Dreams

As much as I’m the first in my family to be a doctor, I want to make sure that I’m not the last. We have to make sure that we’re always giving back. And so a big thing for me is to make sure that other Dr. Brandon Blues are following behind me. If, when I was young, someone had been able to guide me and say, “This is the road, this is the path, this is how you do it,” then I might have avoided some of the pitfalls of youth. So that’s one of my main goals: to give back and help people.

I played a lot of basketball and football. For a lot of folks in my community, that was their way of making money. That’s what everyone thought. You play these sports, you excel at them, and that’s how you’re going to be successful in life. I want to inspire people to say, “Hey, you go to school, you get good grades, and you can become a doctor.” And that’s one of the aspirations that I want little kids to develop, instead of just football or basketball aspirations.

I connect with people in three places. The first is the community center. Kids go there after school to play basketball and do homework. I tell them, “I know you’re only in middle or high school, but let me tell you what the next ten years could look like if you take your math and science classes seriously.”

The second place is the barbershop. In the Black/African-American community, we trust our barbers. Plenty of conversations that happen there don’t happen anywhere else. I want to make sure that health care is discussed there, too. The third place is the church. That’s a cornerstone for minority communities. I want to make sure that, as much as people trust their faith leaders, they can also trust their doctors. I want to let people know that we only want to help.

People say, “I want a doctor who looks like me.” I have patients who drive from all over the country to see me. Unfortunately, there are not enough minority doctors. I do hope that that changes ten or 20 years from now. I know that the connections that I’ve made with my patients are priceless. And so I just want to make sure that I do the best thing for them and that people know that you can come from my community and still be successful.

The rate of having multiple myeloma is about twice as common in the Black/African-American community.

What is Multiple Myeloma?

Multiple myeloma is a cancer that unfortunately needs heavy treatment, like chemotherapy, to help people get better. However, it’s not a curable disease, so it’s more of a lifelong illness.

Typically in medical textbooks, the average age of diagnosis for multiple myeloma is 69. For Hispanics, it’s 62. For Black/African-Americans, it’s 64. Why does that matter? Because when you go to the doctor complaining about certain symptoms, they’re looking for someone who is nearly 70 and you’re in your early 60s, they’ll say, “Oh, you couldn’t have that.” Unfortunately for the minority community, multiple myeloma is one of those things that we get at a younger age. Also, the rate of having multiple myeloma is about twice as common in the Black/African-American community.

Common Symptoms of Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a blood and bone marrow disorder. Unfortunately, it’s not something that you can touch. With other cancers, there might be a lump or something that you can see, like blood in the stool. But because this deals with the blood and bone marrow, it happens on the inside.

The main symptoms that people will feel would be sudden things like back pain because as that marrow fills up with cancer, bones sometimes fracture and break. Another thing that can happen is it can overload the kidneys, so the kidneys shut down or there may be changes in the urine. But a lot of times, that happens when the cancer is very advanced.

We have all the greatest minds from around the world sitting down together and trying to figure out how to cure cancer and make things better for people.

Screening for Multiple Myeloma

Early detection saves your life down the road. If we can detect multiple myeloma before the symptoms kick in, then we prevent lifelong worry and hurt. How can people do that? How can they screen for multiple myeloma?

There is an important research study that I would love everyone to participate in. The PROMISE study is meant for early detection of multiple myeloma and its precursor called MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance). If you are 30 years old, live in the United States, and are Black/African-American, or have a family member with either multiple myeloma or MGUS, then you can get tested for free.

The big thing about cancer care and health care in general is that we want to be doing something better next year, or in ten years, than how we’re doing now. The only way that that happens is through research — knowing what everybody else around the world is doing and putting our minds together and saying, if that’s working, let’s take that forward.

Turning Conversation Into Action: A Collaborative Approach to Health Equity Solutions

That’s what I would say is happening here. We have all the greatest minds from around the world sitting down together and trying to figure out how to cure cancer and make things better for people. And that’s something I’m happy to be involved in. They might say, for example, African Americans have a higher rate of getting cancer (myeloma) or they might get diagnosed at an earlier age (64 versus 69). This is exactly why this research is a little bit different from anything else because we talked about the problems and we also talked about actionable steps to make things better for people starting on day one.

There were so many different people at the table, each person with their role in making things better. We can’t put this all on just the doctors or just the patients and say, well, if the doctors or the patients did this, then things would be better. It took a whole village. I think that’s the real key to the solution. I think that everyone was trying to do things their own way — the different groups each had a plan, but they weren’t all talking. So this is how we put everybody together to work together and make it better. It’s an awesome collaboration.

Years ago, cancer was a death sentence. Thanks to all the innovations, that is no longer true.

My Recommendations for Patients and Care Partners

If I had to choose one actionable step, it would be for people to get second opinions. Patients didn’t know that once they get diagnosed with cancer, they can come to an expert like myself and see if what their doctor is doing is the right thing. That’s important because there can be so many quick advancements in medicine. If your doctor is still doing things from last year or from two years ago, you might not be getting the best care. So it would be a game changer if everyone got a second opinion.

One of the important things for me is not letting cancer define people’s lives. Yes, you are a person with cancer, but you’re much more than that. I have a patient who wanted to make sure that she saw her daughter graduate from high school. One of the biggest advances that we’ve had for the cancer of multiple myeloma is called CAR T-cell therapy. Not only was that lady able to see her daughter finish high school, but she’s also now about to see her daughter graduate from college. She might not have been able to do so without some of these advancements that we’re talking about at these conferences.

Years ago, cancer was a death sentence. Thanks to all the innovations, that is no longer true. As a doctor, I try to make sure that these innovations are available to my patients and that I’m doing the right thing.

I remember a patient with severe cancer who wasn’t highly educated and didn’t understand how severe his cancer was because it wasn’t something he could touch, but he just knew that he felt bad. We tried so many different types of treatment, but unfortunately, his cancer was just too advanced. To this day, that’s something that just eats at me, if we had gotten him earlier and treated him earlier, maybe he would still be here today.

My father had a blood disorder known as diffuse large B cell lymphoma, which is a cancer that affects the lymph nodes. I’m happy to say that after two years, he’s in complete remission. He has a special IV called a port, and he gets to take his port out. Of course, he’s very happy about that. I’m happy to be involved in it because I am a cancer doctor who specializes in blood cancer. I can be a part of his journey, not only from a doctor’s side but as a son. I can educate people and say, “I know what it’s like to be a caregiver. I know what it’s like to have a family member with this cancer, and I never wish that upon anyone.” But if you do have it, just know that I’ve been able to walk a mile in your shoes.

Special thanks again to Pfizer for supporting our patient education program. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content

Hip-Hop, Hope, and Health: Oya Gilbert’s Multiple Myeloma Story

Oya Gilbert had always been full of energy. A father, a hip-hop lover, and a man who rarely got sick. But in 2015, his body started sending him signals he couldn’t ignore. But for two years, doctors dismissed his symptoms as anxiety. Watch Oya’s story from misdiagnosis to myeloma advocacy.

1st Line Treatment Stories

Michelle C., Multiple Myeloma

Initial Symptoms: Back pain, sinus infections, painful and itchy scabs, stomach pains, weight loss

Treatment: First line treatment, stem cell therapy

Melissa V., Multiple Myeloma, Stage 3

Symptoms: Frequent infections

Treatments: IVF treatment & chemotherapy (RVD) for 7 rounds

Jude A., Multiple Myeloma, Stage 3

Symptoms: Pain in back, hips and ribs; difficulty walking

Treatments: Bilateral femoral osteotomy, reversal due to infection; chemotherapy

Relapsed/refractory treatment

Michele J., Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Symptoms: Fatigue, anemia, persistent lower back pain, sharp leg pain during movement

Treatments: Surgery, chemotherapy, stem cell transplant

Theresa T., Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma, IgG kappa Light Chain

Symptom: Extreme pain in right hip

Treatments: Chemotherapy, CAR T-cell therapy, stem cell transplant, radiation

Laura E., Multiple Myeloma, IgG kappa

Symptom: Increasing back pain
Treatments: Chemotherapy, stem cell transplant, bispecific antibodies

Donna K., Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Symptom: None; found through blood tests
Treatments: Total Therapy Four, carfilzomib + pomalidomide, daratumumab + lenalidomide, CAR T-cell therapy, selinexor-carfilzomib

Connie H., Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Symptom: Chronic bone pain
Treatments: Chemotherapy, CAR T-cell therapy

Tags Continuing the Dream, Diversity

Continuing the Dream Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The Importance of Cancer Screening in Communities of Color

Post author By Katrina Villareal
Post date March 10, 2025
No Comments on The Importance of Cancer Screening in Communities of Color

March 10, 2025

The Importance of Cancer Screening in Communities of Color | Dr. Colin Ottey

Dr. Colin Ottey, an internal medicine physician and the Executive Medical Director at Advance Community Health in Raleigh, NC, has a passion for providing care to underserved communities and addressing health disparities.

Interviewed by: Nikki Murphy
Edited by: Katrina Villareal

He discusses the barriers that often prevent people from seeking medical care and offers suggestions on how to improve access to healthcare. He underscores the importance of preventative care, especially crucial for the Black and African American community and people of color. He shares why building trust between healthcare providers and patients of color is vital and how by working together, patients and healthcare professionals can break barriers, improve access, and achieve better health outcomes.

This interview is part of our series Continuing the Dream – honoring Black and African American contributions to healthcare through storytelling and community gatherings

Thank you to AbbVie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for supporting our patient education programming. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content

This interview has been edited for clarity. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider to make treatment decisions.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Why People Don’t Want to See a Doctor
Importance of Getting Access to Preventative Care
How Healthcare Providers Can Build Trust with Patients of Color to Address Health Disparities
How Patients Can Establish Relationships with Their Healthcare Providers

Introduction

I’m an internal medicine physician. I’m the Executive Medical Director of Advance Community Health in Raleigh, North Carolina, which has been around for over 50 years. Advance provides primary care services to individuals in Wake County and Franklin County.

I grew up in Jamaica. I attended college at Brooklyn College and medical school at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I have a special interest in primary care, providing care to the underserved, and working to help reduce health disparities.

What drew me to medicine was the desire to care for people. Growing up, I always liked that doctors were able to prescribe medications that made me feel better afterward. I felt like I would be like those who cared for me as a young child.

As a physician at Advance, I have a great opportunity to serve people, especially those who are underserved or dealing with health disparities, and to influence the care that we can provide as an organization.

Sometimes they feel like they’re better off not knowing if something is wrong with them.

Why People Don’t Want to See a Doctor

Fear is one of the biggest reasons people don’t want to go to a doctor. Sometimes, people don’t want to know they have a medical condition. The lack of knowledge, assumption of what the condition may be, or the outcome of that condition creates a level of fear. Sometimes they feel that they’re better off not knowing if something is wrong with them.

We also have to deal with some social determinants as well. People may not be able to get time off from work to go to the doctor. They have to arrange child care if they have children to take care of. Lack of insurance or financial resources could be a barrier as well. If they live in a rural community, they may have limited specialty services and primary care services as well. If they don’t have transportation, they might not be able to access health care in a center like Raleigh. That’s why we have to make health care more flexible so people can access these services.

One patient who was in his 40s at the time and had a family history of prostate cancer… It turned out that he had prostate cancer, even though he had a normal PSA. Had he not done the digital rectal exam, which a lot of men are afraid to undergo, we would not have discovered his cancer at the time.

Importance of Getting Access to Preventative Care

African Americans or people of color need to get screened because it can help reduce health disparities. Early detection and screening can help people get care much earlier during a disease process than waiting until they start experiencing symptoms, at which time, these conditions could be in terminal stages where very little can be done to treat their conditions.

It’s important to get screening so that we can reduce morbidity and mortality as it relates to those specific conditions. With numerous screening tools available, individuals can access them through their primary care physicians or providers.

I had one patient who was in his 40s at the time and had a family history of prostate cancer, so we always talked about that. He had a normal PSA because we were monitoring. It turned out that he had prostate cancer, even though he had a normal PSA.

The result of one of the exams that I did was concerning to me, so I referred him to a urologist. Had he not done the digital rectal exam, which a lot of men are afraid to undergo, we would not have discovered his cancer at the time. It’s important for men to not be afraid of the digital rectal exam to get screened for prostate cancer. They can always do a PSA test, but the combination is very helpful in terms of screening for prostate cancer. There are a lot of treatments for prostate cancer that could also help reduce morbidity in African-American men.

Providers need to be able to develop relationships with their patients… We have to do is to treat patients the same way we would like to be treated if we were a patient.

How Healthcare Providers Can Build Trust with Patients of Color to Address Health Disparities

We need more healthcare providers of color. People can relate to each other and that will help to build trust. Providers need to be able to develop relationships with their patients. That’s where cultural competency comes into play because sometimes, even though you might identify with the person’s ethnicity if you’re able to develop an understanding of their culture and who they are as a person, you can develop trust with that patient.

Sometimes, patients feel as if providers are delaying care or preventing them from getting certain types of care that they need. What they don’t understand is that we have barriers that we’re dealing with, such as issues with insurance companies that can approve or deny services.

What we have to do is to treat patients the same way we would like to be treated if we were a patient. We have to give patients the level of respect that they need, regardless of their age. See the person as a human being and not as a disease process.

Miss Brown doesn’t just have diabetes. The patient is a diabetic, but she’s a person. She’s a mother and probably a grandmother. She’s probably someone who has been working for X number of years. She could be a person who’s in charge of a department at her job. She’s as important as we are as physicians. We should try to give them that level of respect and allow patients to share their concerns. We should always have room for that in our visits.

Patients should not be afraid to communicate with their providers when they want to ask questions.

How Patients Can Establish Relationships with Their Healthcare Providers

Patients should not be afraid to communicate with their providers when they want to ask questions. They should know their main condition. They should know if there’s something that can be done to treat their medical conditions. They should speak to their providers and say, “I’m X years old now. What things do you think I need as far as my health screening?” They should open that dialogue with their provider and not be afraid to talk to them.

With technology now, we can do a telehealth visit, if they’re uncomfortable with a direct, face-to-face visit with their provider. Telemedicine can help break down some of those barriers. That could be a gateway to get people into the office with a provider directly.

Special thanks again to AbbVie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for supporting our patient education programming. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content

Stories from Raleigh, NC

Dr. Brandon Blue

Dr. Brandon Blue shares key strategies for better health care and saving lives, especially in communities impacted by multiple myeloma.

The Importance of Cancer Screening | Dr. Colin Ottey

An internal medicine physician discusses healthcare access, preventative care, patient trust, and how both doctors and patients can improve relationships for better outcomes.

The Importance of Cancer Screening | Lemuel Eley

Heart attack survivor at 44 shares his story, advocating for health screenings and proactive care in the African-American community.

Dr. Marjory Charlot, Oncology

UNC oncologist discusses increasing awareness and access to clinical trials among Black communities

Roshonda C., Rectal Cancer, Stage 4

Symptoms: Blood in stool, blood from rectum after intercourse, sensation of incomplete bowel movements
Treatments: Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation

Tags advocacy, cancer screening, Continuing the Dream, Diversity

Continuing the Dream Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The Importance of Cancer Screening in the Black Community | Lemuel Eley

Post author By Katrina Villareal
Post date February 20, 2025
No Comments on The Importance of Cancer Screening in the Black Community | Lemuel Eley

February 20, 2025

The Importance of Cancer Screening in the Black Community | Lemuel Eley

Lemuel shares a transformative health experience of when he suffered a life-threatening heart attack while working. He now literally preaches the importance of cancer and other health screenings. The incident began with symptoms like severe breathlessness and profuse sweating, which he initially dismissed. Upon seeking medical attention, he was diagnosed with 16 blood clots in his lungs, requiring immediate surgery. This wake-up call prompted significant changes in his lifestyle, including weight loss from 495 to 333 pounds, and a shift toward greater health consciousness.

Interviewed by: Nikki Murphy
Edited by: Katrina Villareal

Reflecting on his upbringing as an African-American male, he acknowledges cultural norms that downplayed the importance of regular medical care. His father’s heart attack at 55 reinforced the generational tendency to dismiss symptoms and avoid doctors. Now, he advocates for proactive health care, emphasizing the importance of regular screenings and prompt medical intervention. He also draws on his role as a preacher to bridge faith and science, stressing that while God provides healing, individuals must actively care for their health.

He challenges the misconception in religious communities that divine intervention alone suffices. Using biblical analogies, he underscores the necessity of human effort alongside faith and urges individuals to utilize medical resources as tools given by God. His story serves as a call to action, particularly for Black men, to prioritize their health, overcome cultural stigmas, and engage in preventive care to avoid unnecessary suffering.

Thank you to AbbVie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for supporting our patient education program. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content

This interview has been edited for clarity. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider to make treatment decisions.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Getting a Heart Attack
Recovering from the Heart Attack
View on Doctors and Health Care Growing Up
Role of Faith & Religious Beliefs in Health Care
Importance of Taking Care of One’s Health
Advice to Black Males

I told my sister that I couldn’t breathe and she told me to call 911… They found out I had 16 clots, so they rushed me to surgery.

Introduction

I’m from Henderson, North Carolina. I’m 44 years old and I have a daughter named Rachaelle.

I have a degree from Elizabeth City State University in criminal justice and psychology. I’m also a licensed preacher of The Church of Apostolic Revival in Durham, North Carolina.

I have many hobbies. My nickname’s Big Country. I have a lot of hobbies, like hunting and fishing. I like working with my hands. I like to do media. Professionally, I’m a truck driver. I have my dump trucks.

Getting a Heart Attack

In April 2021, I was driving my truck in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and I pulled over into a company that does cement. I had to go upstairs to open up the tank and when I walked back downstairs, I noticed that I was breathing with much difficulty and sweating profusely. I didn’t pay any attention to it and thought I had a cold. I go around to the other side of the building and get loaded. I go upstairs to close the top of my tanker and as I’m going back down, I can’t take another step nor take another breath. I slid down the stairs on my backside to get downstairs.

I managed to get myself into the truck and drive home. I was sweating profusely and coughing by this point. I went to the doctor who gave me steroids to open up my lungs. I couldn’t lie down. I had to sit up in a chair. That morning, I told my sister that I couldn’t breathe and she told me to call 911. When they got there, they took care of me and brought me to the hospital to get a CT scan. They found out I had 16 clots, so they rushed me to surgery. They went up through my groin into my lungs and did the clot-busting treatment. I had to stay stable for 24 hours until the medicine worked.

My first thought was I wanted to know how bad it was. Was I going to live? How was my heart? It was a major life adjustment. I was 495 pounds and now I’m down to 333 pounds.

Our culture taught us that we didn’t need a doctor.

Recovering from the Heart Attack

My whole perspective on life changed. I’m conscious of my body now. If things happen, I get it checked. I’ve learned to hold people around me who love me because you never know. You could be here today and gone tomorrow. You have to take advantage of every God-given opportunity that you have with people because as the Bible says, life is like a vapor. Today we could be here, but tomorrow we could be gone, even in the next hour you could be gone.

It challenged me to look at life differently and to stop being selfish. If somebody asks me to do something, I do it. You never know if it might be that person’s last time. It changed my whole perspective of life. I’m more conscious about what I do, especially to my body.

View on Doctors and Health Care Growing Up

As an African-American male, we were always told that we were tough. We did what we were supposed to do. We work, work, work, and we’ll be okay, not knowing half the time that later on in life, an issue will arise and it’s going to be worse than it was.

My father wouldn’t go to the doctor. My mom made him go and the doctor told him certain things, but he never took heed. He had a heart attack at age 55, which caused issues with every other part of his life but he worked through it and now he’s good.

Our culture taught us that we didn’t need a doctor. You can take a little bit of this and a little bit of that. If you’re having some stomach issues, drink a little ginger ale or eat a little crackers. But that pain in your stomach could have been a heart attack, but you’ll never know. If you feel tightness in your chest or you feel like you can’t breathe, you have to go see a doctor and have it checked out. That’s what the doctors are here for.

We don’t take the time to talk about health care because we feel like God can do everything and sometimes, that’s the problem.

Role of Faith & Religious Beliefs in Health Care

There’s a thin line between faith and science. We’re taught that God has the power to heal, but here’s my take on this. God created the physicians to do what they’re supposed to do and when they can’t, that’s when faith steps in.

I have a great story of my friend Tony who had stage 4 cancer. He didn’t know it and was still living. He went to the doctor and found out he had it, but before he found out, he was living a good life. I found out that with cancer patients who I have known, have talked to, and have witnessed, most of them already had it before they even found out they had it.

I never had cancer and I pray I never have it. Some people think, “I have cancer. I’m going to die,’ but you don’t have to succumb to that. Look at Tony. He does everything he wants to do. He still cycles. You look at him as if nothing ever happened, but he does his part by going to the doctor, taking care of himself, eating right, doing all the things that he’s supposed to do, and what he can’t do, God does.

I’m a licensed preacher and I preach in churches, but we don’t take the time to talk about health care because we feel like God can do everything and sometimes, that’s the problem. With religion, we depend too much on God when God said I would do the part you can’t do.

I’m going to share this Bible story that I heard and it made sense. Lazarus was dead. Jesus didn’t say, “Get up out of that ground.” He told them, “Dig him up.” Jesus said, “Lazarus, come forth,” and he came out. Then he said, “Take the grave clothes off him.” They did that part. He did the part they couldn’t do. Going back to what I was saying, you do your part, God does his part. There’s a very thin line when it comes to health care and Christianity.

God put these doctors in place for a reason, so use them. We don’t talk about it because we always put the burden on God versus us taking care of ourselves. You can’t keep stuffing yourself with pork and fatback, and then when your arteries get clogged, you ask God to unclog something that you did. That’s not fair. Go out and run. Start losing weight. Do your part. We do a horrible job in church talking about health care because Jesus is going to do everything, but you still have to do something.

If you don’t get screened and something happened to you that you could have taken care of, you can’t blame anybody else but yourself because you had every chance.

Importance of Taking Care of One’s Health

God gave us the tools, the resources, and the revelation of the human body. We have all this research to help us. We have these schools of medicine and doctors.

Get your screening. If you feel something, go see a doctor. Your health is more important than anything in the world. If you don’t get screened and something happened to you that you could have taken care of, you can’t blame anybody else but yourself because you had every chance.

It’s like having tools. I cannot take a coloring book and color a page without the crayon. The crayon is the tool that goes along with the coloring book so you can color. Without the crayon, there is no coloring book—it’s just a book. The coloring book needs the crayon. You are the coloring book, but your doctor is the crayon. Let your doctor be the crayon and help you paint a good life.

Advice to Black Males

Go see your doctor. Go get your screenings. You never know what you might be going through. I’m 44 years old. Never in the world did I think I would have a heart attack in my early 40s. I’ve been a healthy and athletic guy. Let’s be honest. Health is wealth. For African-American men, we deal with prostate cancer and reproductive dysfunction because we’re not taking care of ourselves. We need our heart to work the other part and a lot of times, we don’t see that until the last minute. Have you been taking care of your body the whole time? Ask your doctor.

As part of the African-American community, a preacher, part of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., as part of the trucking industry, and being a young African-American man, go. Find out something that could save your life, so you don’t have to deal with it anymore. Get your prostate checked. Sometimes we feel violated, but if it turns into cancer, then you know how to deal with it. Just go.

Go see your doctor. Go get your screenings. You never know what you might be going through.

Special thanks again to AbbVie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for supporting our patient education program. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content

Thank you for sharing your story, Lemuel!

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Stories Tackling Cancer Disparities

Dr. Brandon Blue

Dr. Brandon Blue shares key strategies for better health care and saving lives, especially in communities impacted by multiple myeloma.

The Importance of Cancer Screening | Lemuel Eley

Heart attack survivor at 44 shares his story, advocating for health screenings and proactive care in the African-American community.

Dr. Marjory Charlot, Oncology

UNC oncologist discusses increasing awareness and access to clinical trials among Black communities

Roshonda C., Rectal Cancer, Stage 4

Symptoms: Blood in stool, blood from rectum after intercourse, sensation of incomplete bowel movements
Treatments: Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation

Tags cancer screening, Continuing the Dream

Continuing the Dream Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Medical Experts Patient Events

Overcoming Racial Barriers in Clinical Trials from a Lung Cancer Oncologist

Post author By Katrina Villareal
Post date January 30, 2025
No Comments on Overcoming Racial Barriers in Clinical Trials from a Lung Cancer Oncologist

January 30, 2025

Overcoming Racial Barriers in Clinical Trials from a Lung Cancer Oncologist

Marjory Charlot, MD, MPH, MSc, is a medical oncologist and health services researcher at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She primarily specializes in people who have lung cancer. Her research focuses on increasing awareness and access to clinical trials among Black communities and communities with low-income or persistent poverty.

Interviewed by: Nikki Murphy
Edited by: Katrina Villareal

Thank you to AbbVie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for their support of our patient education program. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

This interview has been edited for clarity. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider to make treatment decisions.

Table of Contents

Introduction
A Winding Path to Medicine
Why Oncology Became Her Calling
Growing Up in Mattapan
Developing the CREATE Initiative
Most Common Lung Cancer Symptoms
Demystifying Clinical Trials
A Patient’s Clinical Trial Success Story
Overcoming Barriers in Black Communities
The Role of Black Physicians in Healthcare

Introduction

Nikki Murphy: Tell us about yourself.

Dr. Marjory Charlot: I’m a medical oncologist and health services researcher. I work at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and primarily specialize in lung cancer patients. Part of my work is working in the hospital for patients who either have a suspicion of cancer or have a cancer diagnosis but are hospitalized for symptoms of their cancer or side effects from their treatment. As a health services researcher, my research focuses on increasing awareness and access to clinical trials among Black communities and communities with low-income or persistent poverty.

Outside of medicine, I’m a wife and a mom. I have two children, one in elementary school and one in middle school. I recently completed an aquathlon, a swim-run competition, which is a big deal for me because I don’t have a great relationship with swimming. I learned to swim as an adult, so it was a big accomplishment for me to be able to complete this duathlon, so that was exciting. I also love to travel and visit different places across the US or abroad. I also love to eat. I love various types of foods.

When I completed my medical training, I knew that I wanted to be an oncologist. There was no question about that.

A Winding Path to Medicine

Nikki: What was your number one driver to becoming a doctor?

Dr. Charlot: I knew from a young age that I wanted to become a doctor. I grew up in Mattapan, a neighborhood in Boston, and I was privileged enough to have a Haitian pediatrician who had his practice in the community and did house visits. The Haitian community where I grew up was tight-knit and it was informative for me to be able to see someone who shared my heritage be a physician and be one with the community, so I wanted to be exactly like him.

My path to becoming a doctor was not straight and narrow. After I graduated from college, I spent a couple of years working in different types of advocacy work related to education and moved on to teaching middle school students about health professional careers. After that, I got my degree in public health and then after that, I went to medical school. It was a winding path to medicine, but I knew that’s where I would end up eventually.

Why Oncology Became Her Calling

Nikki: How did you end up specializing in lung cancer?

Dr. Charlot: When I completed my medical training, I knew that I wanted to be an oncologist. There was no question about that. I felt like it was the field where you develop close-knit relationships with your patients, so that was a no-brainer. Oncology was the way that I wanted to go.

Concerning lung cancer, I was influenced by my mentor. When I started my training, there weren’t that many options for lung cancer. There was chemotherapy and that was pretty much it. However, during my training, there were a lot of new therapies coming up, like immunotherapy and targeted therapy. The excitement in the field drew me to want to be a part of this growing field concerning options for our patients. The field was getting to a place where we had more options to offer our patients other than chemotherapy itself and that’s where my love and compassion towards lung cancer grew.

It was ingrained in me that we needed to think about the community and the circumstances that people are born in or the conditions they live in for the healthcare system to work.

Growing Up in Mattapan

Nikki: What motivated you to go above and beyond and focus on helping an entire community get better access to health care and treatment options, including clinical trials?

Dr. Charlot: Mattapan is a predominantly Black community and interestingly enough, my street and pretty much my whole block were folks that immigrated to Boston. I have a Haitian background, so my interest in terms of thinking about communities draws from that experience.

I lived in two different worlds. I had the world where I grew up in Mattapan, but I also always went to Catholic school, which was outside of our neighborhood. I saw the dichotomy between the school in terms of the affluence of the area and some of the students who attended that school and my neighborhood where we’re very rich in culture and pride, and hardworking, but we didn’t have the same resources.

When I became a doctor, I did all of my training at a safety net hospital, so we cared primarily for people who were underinsured or had no insurance. It was the hospital where I was born, so it was ingrained in me that we needed to think about the community and the circumstances that people are born in or the conditions they live in for the healthcare system to work.

That’s where my whole approach comes from in terms of thinking about Black communities and the importance of ensuring that they have the knowledge and the awareness of all the resources available to ensure that they have access to care and can improve their outcomes through those connections. As a physician, I think about the Black community and understand ways how we need to make those connections together for us to thrive, do better, and live healthy lives.

I used my background concerning patient and community engagement to improve access to clinical trials, cancer care, and high-quality cancer care.

Developing the CREATE Initiative

Nikki: How did you end up at UNC?

Dr. Charlot: I was recruited to UNC primarily to work as a thoracic oncologist, so my specialty in lung cancer, as well as develop a program that was focused on clinical trials and increasing equity in clinical trials. As a result of my research and clinical background, I ended up starting the CREATE initiative, which is Cancer Research, Equity, and Advocacy Through Engagement. This initiative speaks to the strong community focus and the work that we do with our community partners for the healthcare system to work and for the treatments to get to the people that they were designed to treat. I used my background concerning patient and community engagement to improve access to clinical trials, cancer care, and high-quality cancer care.

Most Common Lung Cancer Symptoms

Nikki: We understand that there’s a wide range of symptoms, but what are the most common symptoms of lung cancer? And what should people never ignore?

Dr. Charlot: Screening in general is meant to detect cancers early, before they cause symptoms. But generally speaking, by the time a patient is diagnosed with cancer, medical oncologists see patients after the cancer has spread or advanced and not in a stage where it could be cured with surgery. However, things have changed with cancer where we’re using chemotherapy and immunotherapy even for earlier cancer stages.

Common symptoms are generally related to shortness of breath, coughing (particularly coughing up blood), and sometimes weight loss. Those are the top three that patients describe in terms of things that they’ve noticed when they’re diagnosed with cancer.

If the cancer has spread, they could present with various symptoms, like a headache if the cancer has spread to the brain or pain in various areas, like in the bones or the joints. There could be a wide range of symptoms depending on where the cancer is.

The most important thing is to be aware that cancer screening is an option, particularly for people who have had a long history of smoking. Twenty pack-years is the recommendation. Screening is for those who don’t have symptoms, but if they do have symptoms, it’s another reason to see their doctors so they can get examined and evaluated for potential cancer.

It’s important to be able to test these drugs on a variety of people and understand how these treatments impact various groups.

Demystifying Clinical Trials

Nikki: We know that trials aren’t for everyone. What would you say specifically to Black and African Americans to convince them to learn about clinical trials?

Dr. Charlot: Clinical trials are an opportunity to get access to new treatments that are not currently available. For the Black community in particular, we know that outcomes are worse when it comes to cancer survival and mortality rates. Clinical trials provide an opportunity to get access to new drugs, which ideally will prolong life.

It’s important for all patients, regardless of background, to have access. We don’t know how these drugs are going to affect people, whether it’s based on their environment, socioeconomic status, or race. It’s important to be able to test these drugs on a variety of people and understand how these treatments impact various groups.

A Patient’s Clinical Trial Success Story

Nikki: Can you think of a specific story that shows how impactful a trial can be for someone?

Dr. Charlot: I started the CREATE initiative at Lineberger and we’re in the process of completing a research grant that I have, which is building a mobile app for Black women with breast cancer to see if it can help increase discussions about clinical trials with their providers. One of our patient research partners shared her story about participating in a trial where the trial led to her being cancer-free for a very long time in that she’s been able to see this drug become a standard of care for breast cancer treatment.

It’s important to acknowledge the historical past and some of the mistreatment that Black communities and individuals often get within the medical care system.

Variety of chemotherapy drugs in bottles

This goes to show that when going into a trial, we don’t know whether or not these drugs are going to work. What we do know is that when you’re in a clinical trial, you’re under such close follow-up, which gives you even an extra layer of eyes of people who are watching how you’re doing. If these drugs prove to be better than the standard of care, these drugs end up helping people live longer.

It’s fascinating and wonderful to be able to work with someone who’s been through this whole process of participating in a clinical trial and seeing that her participation led to the approval of a new drug that is now being used for breast cancer patients. There’s no better story than to live through the process of being in a clinical trial and to see how that participation led to the approval of a drug that more women and other people with breast cancer can benefit from.

Overcoming Barriers in Black Communities

Nikki: What would your message be to the Black and African-American community who are fearful of clinical trials?

Dr. Charlot: We know that our healthcare system and our research enterprise in this country have not been the best, particularly for our Black communities. At the same time, it’s important to acknowledge the historical past and some of the mistreatment that Black communities and individuals often get within the medical care system. Acknowledgment is at the forefront.

It’s also important to know that there are safeguards in place with clinical trials. It’s important for us, specifically as Black individuals, to be a part of clinical trials because it gives us opportunities that we would potentially not have to access newer drugs. Acknowledge the past and understand that we have a part and the right to have access to newer treatments and interventions.

We need to understand where our patients are coming from, know what their needs are, and partner with them.

The Role of Black Physicians in Healthcare

Nikki: What do you think healthcare professionals can do better when building trust with the Black and African American community?

Dr. Charlot: As a Black physician and even for healthcare providers who are not Black, we need to be one with our community. We need to understand where our patients are coming from, know what their needs are, and partner with them. If we do these separately in our silos, it doesn’t help improve access to care. It doesn’t help our communities thrive and live healthy lives. Making connections is what’s helped me in the work that I do and hopefully helping the patients that I’ve had the privilege to take care of over these past couple of decades as a physician.

Special thanks again to AbbVie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for their support of our patient education program. The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

Stories from Raleigh, NC

Dr. Brandon Blue

Dr. Brandon Blue shares key strategies for better health care and saving lives, especially in communities impacted by multiple myeloma.

The Importance of Cancer Screening | Lemuel Eley

Heart attack survivor at 44 shares his story, advocating for health screenings and proactive care in the African-American community.

Dr. Marjory Charlot, Oncology

UNC oncologist discusses increasing awareness and access to clinical trials among Black communities

Roshonda C., Rectal Cancer, Stage 4

Symptoms: Blood in stool, blood from rectum after intercourse, sensation of incomplete bowel movements
Treatments: Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation

Tags clinical trials, Continuing the Dream, healthcare disparities

Chemotherapy Colorectal Patient Stories Radiation Therapy Rectal Surgery Treatments

Roshonda’s Stage 4 Rectal Cancer Story

Post author By Chris Sanchez
Post date January 5, 2025
No Comments on Roshonda’s Stage 4 Rectal Cancer Story

January 5, 2025

Roshonda’s Stage 4 Rectal Cancer Story

Roshonda shares her story as an “ostomy warrior” after she was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2022. Her initial symptoms included blood in her stool and a sensation of incomplete bowel movements in 2021. When she first visited a doctor, she attributed the symptoms to hemorrhoids. As her symptoms progressed, including seeing blood after sexual activity and worsening discomfort, she switched to Medicaid and a new healthcare provider, eventually leading to a colonoscopy in March 2022. The procedure revealed a mass and 3 polyps in her rectum, resulting in a rectal cancer diagnosis that devastated her, as memories of her late father’s battle with cancer resurfaced. She also had a spot on her lung which brought her diagnosis to stage 4.

Interviewed by: Taylor Scheib
Edited by: Chris Sanchez

Following her diagnosis, Roshonda met her team of specialists and began 6 weeks of daily radiation and oral chemotherapy. Despite the challenges, including burning pain, skin darkening, and intense discomfort, she persevered. Unfortunately, she lost her longtime job, and her unemployment benefits ended shortly after her diagnosis, complicating her financial situation. Thankfully, her mother and grandmother provided support, covering bills and easing some of the burden.

Despite the intense treatment, Roshonda’s tumor did not initially shrink enough. Her oncologist advised further treatment with intravenous chemotherapy, which involved 8 sessions over 4 months. These sessions were grueling, leaving her nauseated and exhausted. Reflecting on the mental toll, Roshonda stresses the importance of maintaining a positive outlook, which she believes helps many cancer patients manage their journey.

Facing surgery to remove her rectum and anus due to the tumor’s location, Roshonda had to decide between keeping the anal area, risking potential recurrence, or opting for a complete removal with a lifelong colostomy bag. She chose the latter, enduring significant pain after the procedure, with limited mobility and initial difficulty sitting.

Roshonda joined an online ostomy support group before surgery, learning from others’ experiences and finding comfort in a community of people facing similar challenges. This network has been invaluable, especially since she is the only one in her family with an ostomy bag.

Sharing her rectal cancer journey on TikTok and Facebook, Roshonda aims to raise awareness about colorectal cancer, particularly within the Black community, which faces higher incidence rates. She encourages early screenings and prompt medical attention for symptoms. Gospel music and faith have helped her find peace, especially a song that resonated deeply with her, helping her surrender her worries before surgery.

Adjusting to life with a colostomy bag, Roshonda emphasizes listening to her body and finding what works best for her. Though the journey has been painful and challenging, she remains grateful for her support network, faith, and the resilience she’s developed throughout her battle.

Name:
- Roshonda C.
Age at Diagnosis:
- 37
Diagnosis:
- Rectal cancer
Staging:
- Stage 4
Initial Symptoms:
- Blood in stool
- Blood from rectum after intercourse
- Sensation of incomplete bowel movements
Treatment:
- Chemotherapy
- Surgery
- Radiation

This interview has been edited for clarity. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider to make treatment decisions.

Thank you for sharing your story, Roshonda!

Inspired by Roshonda's story?

Share your story, too!

As a regional foundation member of Jack and Jill of America, Jasmine connects people to empower African American youth and the nation’s youth as a whole, fostering future leaders through education and community support. Her role spans fundraising and community service across multiple states. She highlights the importance of organizations like Jack and Jill of America in educating communities on health issues and ensuring accessible healthcare resources.

Jasmine stresses the importance of self-care, using the example of a medical emergency her husband faced as a testament to the value of knowing one’s health history. She educates healthcare providers about available resources like North Carolina’s expansive Medicaid system, striving to help communities leverage existing support. Jasmine’s story is a call to action for proactive health management and community empowerment.

Thank you to Abbvie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for their support of our patient education program! The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider for treatment decisions.

Table of Contents

Introduction
- Her work for Jack and Jill of America
Breast Cancer Scare
Takeaways from Jasmine’s Cancer Scare
Breast Cancer Stories

The biggest lesson I learned is that it’s better to know.

Introduction

My name is Jasmine.

I’ve never had cancer, but because earlier this year, I thought I might actually have breast cancer, I’m now a big advocate for cancer screenings.

I would say I’m a philanthropist. I’m all about giving back. I’ve been very blessed throughout my life.

I’ve come from humble beginnings, and feel so blessed now to be able to give back in a lot of different ways. And so I think at the heart of who I am, I’m about giving back and philanthropy.

Who I am at my core is I am a connector. I love bringing people together from different avenues of life and figuring out what we can do together, how we can harness our strengths to make this world a better place. I have done that through my job.

Her work for Jack and Jill of America

I’ve brought people together through various organizations that I volunteer with, such as Jack and Jill of America Incorporated, where I’m a regional foundation member at large.

And it’s really where my heart and my passion lies.

Jack and Jill of America is an organization of mothers founded in 1938 that works to build future leaders of America. Our children and our teens are our future educators, connectors, and leaders.

And so at Jack and Jill, we rally as mothers behind our African American teens and all our children, and building them up.

We help our teens to realize their passions. We help them to create and learn their strengths, and then we enable and empower them to become leaders in this world. And so, we are hopefully building a bench for a greater future.

I am the lead for the philanthropic efforts of 32 chapters in North America, in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, specifically. And that includes fundraising, community service, and grants and philanthropic giving.

Breast Cancer Scare

So this is how my breast cancer scare went.

It actually happened earlier this year. I went for a mammogram, and it came back abnormal.

I’ve had an abnormal mammogram before, and so I wasn’t too worried, but this time, I had to go through a biopsy, and lie down on this huge table, and have them primp and prod and do all these things to get the right imaging.

And it was a scary few days before the biopsy results came back and showed that everything was good, it just really dense breast tissue, which happens to a lot of African American women.

So it ended on a positive note. But it was such a scary time. It was a scary procedure. Not knowing what the outcome was going to be was very scary for sure.

I should also add that breast cancer doesn’t run in my family.

… it’s so crucial to listen to yourself and trust your intuition.

Takeaways from Jasmine’s Cancer Scare

“It’s better to know”

The biggest lesson for me from my experience is the importance of knowing.

So originally I didn’t want to go. I had I think I had waited another year or two from my last mammogram and it was like, oh, I’m good. I don’t really need to go.

But then something inside me said, you better go. And so I finally went, and of course I ended up getting cleared.

You know, having all the resources available to me yet still hesitating to go is awful. So I would say the biggest lesson I learned is that it’s better to know.

It’s better to go get checked and to know if there’s anything you need to be aware of and to take care of.

Listen to yourself

And another important point is that it’s so crucial to listen to yourself and trust your intuition.

God, or whomever you might believe in, gives us this instinct, this sixth sense about yourself and or about your situation. And it’s so important to listen to that.

Don’t wait. Something is telling you to go get checked. So go get checked.

Hey, even if something isn’t telling you to get checked, you really should still go and get yourself looked at. It’s something we women should do every year.

You really need to take to heart your health and your life.
And if you don’t take care of yourself, who’s going to take care of your family?
So you have to take care of yourself first.

Encourage others to get themselves checked

I really encourage everyone to go get those mammograms, and have themselves checked for anything.

So I make it a point to encourage others to go and do so, beginning with my daughter, who is 15 years old.

Earlier this year, I didn’t manage to tell her about my scare immediately as she was out of town. But we have talked about the importance of going to the doctor every year, both she and I.

And so she definitely gets her checkups and, and now is at a point where she goes and she sees the doctor by herself.

Having that one on one personal relationship with your doctor is really important. And she definitely understands and respects that relationship.

Work to break the cycle

Organizations like Jack and Jill of America and the Divine Nine have a key role to play in helping future generations break the cycle and get better healthcare. They are essential in getting the word out to African American individuals, leaders, and children.

People respect us. We are at the heart of these communities. We have a voice people want to listen to, and when we speak up, they listen.

And so it’s really important that all of these groups reach out and do education, build relationships, and work to educate the community at large about all of these important issues, such as vaccinations and diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

There are a lot of resources at our fingertips and at our disposal.
Make sure you know what these resources are.

Take care of yourself first

You really need to take to heart your health and your life. And if you don’t take care of yourself, who’s going to take care of your family? So you have to take care of yourself first.

Whether you’re a mom or a dad or anyone, there are other people relying on you, and you cannot take care of them until you take care of you. Because if you don’t prioritize yourself, who will?

Back in 2016, my husband collapsed on the floor. Because we knew his own history as well as his family history, because he had been going to the doctor regularly, they were able to save his life.

There were critical decisions that we needed to make in the moment — decisions that we did make, because we knew what we needed to know.

So, yes, it’s important to know all these important things, because by knowing them, you are prepared.

Take stock of the resources at your disposal

And it doesn’t take a whole lot of money to be ready. Even if you don’t have the financial resources, there is Medicaid, which is so robust that that you can get checked out and it does not cost you anything.

I’ve helped educate health care providers and community members on things like preventative care screenings and Medicaid itself. And the number one thing that breaks my heart is not knowing what resources are available to help you or your loved ones.

There are so many things that the system across the country can offer. For instance, there are so many resources here in North Carolina. North Carolina has a robust Medicaid system. I mean, you can get transportation to doctor’s appointments.

You can get financial help with housing. You can get food boxes. We no longer have to go hungry. We no longer have to make do without utilities.

So what breaks my heart is people suffering and not knowing that there is a way out.

There are a lot of resources at our fingertips and at our disposal. Make sure you know what these resources are.

Special thanks again to Abbvie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for their support of our patient education program! The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

Thank you for sharing your story, Jasmine!

Inspired by Jasmine's story?

Share your story, too!

The Importance of Cancer Screening | Pastor Steven Hargrove

Post author By Chris Sanchez
Post date December 28, 2024
No Comments on The Importance of Cancer Screening | Pastor Steven Hargrove

December 28, 2024

The Importance of Cancer Screening | Pastor Steven Hargrove

Interviewed by: Nikki Murphy
Edited by: Chris Sanchez

Pastor Steven Hargrove shares the profound impact cancer has had on his family and community, and underscores the importance of cancer screening, as well as the role an institution such as the church can and should play when it comes to healthcare.

Steven grew up in North Carolina and serves as a pastor at White Rock Missionary Baptist Church. Steven has not experienced cancer himself, but has witnessed the disease ravage his family. His mother died of breast cancer, and several relatives have battled other forms of cancer, including his niece Marisha, who lived 7 years with stage 4 renal cell carcinoma after initially being given 6 months to live.

Steven emphasizes the importance of having adequate healthcare. Marisha’s struggle to afford her monthly medication taught him the necessity of advocating for healthcare coverage. Medicaid eventually covered her medication, highlighting the need for awareness about available healthcare options.

In his church, Steven promotes health awareness, particularly during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. His personal experiences drive his commitment to encouraging cancer screening and preventive measures. He also advocates for hospice care, challenging misconceptions that it solely foreshadows imminent death.

Steven leverages his pastoral role to offer advice and support to his congregation, emphasizing the necessity of spiritual faith combined with proactive healthcare. He encourages participation in clinical trials, sharing that such trials extended Marisha’s life significantly. He believes churches should provide a holistic approach to wellness, integrating health education with spiritual guidance.

Steven’s story underlines the importance of community, faith, and resilience in confronting life’s challenges, advocating for informed decision-making and mutual support within families and communities.

Thank you to Abbvie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for their support of our patient education program! The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider for treatment decisions.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Family history of cancer
- Marisha's story
Leveraging his experience to help others through church
Advice Steven wants to share
More Renal Cell Carcinoma Stories
More Breast Cancer Stories
More Multiple Myeloma Stories

… I believe that in this life, we just have to learn that we’re going to face some trials.
But we don’t have to face them alone.

Introduction

I am Steven, and I am from Oxford, NC, originally by way of the Bullock community. I currently live in Henderson, North Carolina.

I’m the pastor of the White Rock Missionary Baptist Church located in Greenville County. I took my undergrad and master’s at North Carolina Central University.

I’m a professor here at NC State University teaching in the social work program. I taught at Vance-Granville Community College prior to teaching at NC State U. I also am a 20 year vet.

I’m married to the lovely Leslie, and we have three adult children and seven grandchildren. And a dog we call Roger.

Family history of cancer

I myself have never had cancer. But my family has a long history of cancer.

My biological mother died from breast cancer when I was five years old. She had a sister who also died from breast cancer. She has nieces that have had breast cancer, but they survived. Right now, my brother and my aunt both have multiple myeloma.

We helped raise my sister’s daughters, Mia and Marisha, when their mom died of renal cell carcinoma. Unfortunately they have both passed away as well. Mia passed in 2019 and Marisha in 2020.

Marisha’s story

Marisha was diagnosed at 23 years old with stage 4 renal cell carcinoma. So there were things about my sister’s journey that I started seeing with Marisha.

I noticed the drastic weight loss. Within 2 months, she went from about a size 20 to a size 12 or 10. We were very concerned. We also realized that she had a knot in her neck, and then her skin had kind of changed.

So that’s when we had her go to the doctor and they immediately said it was some type of cancer. They just didn’t know what type at that point. And so from there the journey began.

Marisha was in a battle for her life. Initially, they gave her 6 months to live, and I pulled out all the stops. I was prepared to do anything to save her life.

So at that time, Marisha did not have health care coverage because she wasn’t working. So we did everything we could to get her what she needed, and we went to every pharmaceutical company. But the trial medication that she needed costs $13,000 a month.

Through prayer and connections and the doctors fighting on our behalf, Medicaid ended up paying for her medication. So it helped me realize that people really, really need to pay attention to their health care and overall health. You know, what kind of plans they have, what it pays for, what it doesn’t pay for.

Marisha also participated in a clinical trial, and it really helped her. Had it not been for the clinical trial, she would have been gone in 6 months. But she lived 7 years — 7 good years. And not in a bed like she was in a nursing facility.

Towards the end, Marisha started deteriorating. Maybe in the latter part of the summer, her blood pressure kept bottoming out, and then we found out that the medicine now was working against her health. So October the 3rd, which was her birthday, was the day they told me that they could not do anything else for her.

And that’s when the doctor said that the medicine was working against Marisha. And we couldn’t be mad about that because the medicine had worked so long and had done so well for her. And at that point, they had several other clinical trials lined up. But because her health had deteriorated, any other trial they did would just work against her because her physical health was just too low.

So when Marisha did pass away, it wasn’t because of the cancer. It was because her blood pressure couldn’t come up.

But we were thankful for the clinical trials. Because Marisha already had a child when she was diagnosed with cancer. Her baby was just 1 year old at the time. Through those clinical trials and other things, God allowed her to live 7 years, so that her son would know who his mama was.

Prayer works.
But, you know, we also have to remember that God works in all kinds of ways and not just one particular way.

Leveraging his experience to help others through church

I have tried to make good use of what I’ve experienced and learned to help others, including through church. And I’ve learned a lot of things as well.

Learning about hospice care

At church we come across a lot of different things, because you get a collage of people coming from all walks of life.

One of my ministers was diagnosed with aggressive dementia. And her husband was limited educationally. So he relied heavily on me to help him get things in place for her.

I found that when we were dealing with their insurance, we had to pull in other methods to take care of her needs, because her needs were getting greater as the dementia progressed. And so we ended up having to go to the senior center and get help and direction as to what we needed to do next.

We realized in that process, a lot of people are like, when they hear hospice, their reaction is, oh my God, somebody’s dying. But hospice also helps if you have a disorder or a disease that’s terminal. It doesn’t mean you’re going to die tomorrow, but they will send somebody into the home. They can help with bathing and dressing, checking blood pressure, and different things like that.

If you don’t have Medicaid, you can’t get an in-home aide. But hospice now has an extension where you can get somebody to come in maybe a few hours a week and do different things. They can check blood pressure and blood sugar, and try to make sure that person is taken care of. So we had to put those things in place.

As a pastor, I find often that when my members come up short, they’re going to come to me because, well, I’m their pastor.

Using his experience as a testimony and to offer advice

I do offer advice rooted in my own and my family’s experience to date. And a lot of it happens because most of my church members know my experiences and what my family and I have dealt with.

I’ve gotten asked, pastor, what do you think I should do? And that happens all the time because they value the input of their pastor. And I give them what I’ve got.

You know, prayer works. But, you know, we also have to remember that God works in all kinds of ways and not just one particular way.

My experience has touched others and convinced them to go out and get themselves screened. And as a matter of fact, we pushed for that in our church. Like I said earlier, this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So we’re pushing that.

Starting the first Sunday of the month when people come to church, they’re going to get my soapbox on breast cancer awareness. As you know, breast cancer awareness is personal for me. So I share that story with my church members so that they will go and get checked, and we have a health care ministry that helps us promote that.

So whatever is going on, our health care ministry is there to provide whatever information that we need, like we did during the times when COVID was bad. We had readily accessible information to share not only with our church members but also with the community at large.

We don’t just exist for our church, we exist for whosoever needs us. It’s a let-them-come kind of situation.

The church… is an institution.
And we need to make sure we use that institution so people can grow.

The impact on cancer screening from having a health care ministry in his church

I’ve found that maintaining a health care ministry is so crucial, because you will be surprised at who’s sitting in your congregation that doesn’t have a clue as to what’s out there that can help them.

Prevention is a major part of making sure our health is good. Because if you can catch something early, you know, sometimes people may say, oh — okay, that’s a sign. I need to go get this checked.

In our church when COVID and all that stuff was going on, we connected with other churches with by way of our healthcare ministry and encouraged them to have health care ministries too, through which they could collaborate and work towards helping their community.

Our health care ministry keeps track of health care for everyone and makes sure that everyone is aware of the cancer screening, aware of the tests that can be done, all of that stuff. So our health care ministry is definitely on top of that.

Helping the community get the best health care possible

It’s important for the church to understand that it’s not just there to preach the gospel. It also functions to give information.

We need to make sure that people are getting the information they need, because if you’re sick and you can’t come and work in ministry or help with ministry, we want to make sure that you have the information readily accessible to you.

The church, I said earlier, is an institution. And we need to make sure we use that institution so people can grow.

People can be the best version of them that they can be. And to support them, the church is like this all encompassing arena.

You know, it’s every aspect of a person’s life. So it’s not just about the old people and or just about the young people. It’s not just about the men or just about the women. It’s about the whole picture.

I believe church should be like a pie. It has a whole lot of slices, but at the end of the day, it’s a pie and we address every area of a person’s life. So health care and being getting screened and tested and all those kinds of things, that’s a slice of the pie .We are trying to make people as whole as possible.

On God and suffering

How do I respond when people ask the question: why does God allow us to suffer?

Well, the Bible says that God rains on the just as well as the unjust. So nothing exempts any of us from anything. I think people want a perfect world, but we don’t live in a perfect world.

Jesus did say, in this life you will have tribulation. He says, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.

We didn’t come here to stay, so something’s going to take us out of here.

I say to people, everybody dies from a heart attack. So everybody starts laughing. Like, what do you mean about that heart attack? I explain, as long as your heart is working, you’re living. But when your heart stops working, you die.

So everybody dies from a heart issue, is what I tell them. But I also want people to understand that you’re going to deal with some things in this life.

Okay, so people look at my family and say, well, how in the world did y’all make it through that? Because I realized that I belong to God, they belong to God.

It doesn’t take away from the pain. We were hurting. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I cried and I cried, and we still cry. But we have hope. And our hope is that God is going to get us through anything that we come in contact with.

So life is going to happen. Everybody wants to be rich. Everybody wants to be well. Everybody wants to be a whole lot of stuff. But that’s not the way of life. And even rich people don’t always have things their way. Look at those people who we all think have it all. But then look at what they’re missing.

So I believe that in this life, we just have to learn that we’re going to face some trials, but we don’t have to face them alone.

When people ask, why did God allow this to happen? I answer, well, God trusted you with it because he felt like you would be able to trust him enough to get you through it.

I saw this lady on Facebook who lost her son, mom and dad in a flood. She was interviewed on TV. She cried but said, I ain’t mad with God. I’m not saying I’m not hurt. I’m not saying that I’m not broken. I’m not mad because I know that God took them, and they are now with him.

You should understand that a lot of those kinds of comments that question why God allows us to suffer, they’re not really coming from people who really understand church and God. You know, they’re looking for somebody to blame instead of just accepting it as part of life. And we just have to be ready for whatever it is.

I didn’t want to go through losing what I’ve lost. It almost killed me. But I never charged God, I trusted him. Now that’s not just the pastor thing, but it’s the Christian thing, the God that’s in me. And that’s what I believe.

I got through my losses because I know that God is my refuge and my strength. He’s a very present help in the time of trouble. So when you start understanding the nature of God, that’s when you stop questioning, why is God doing this now?

And I did come to understand several things. That it has nothing to do with me directly and that this is His will for life. No one is going to live to be 150 years old. If that were the case, then nobody would ever leave this world.

I trust God, and this is what He revealed to me. He says, I am near to the brokenhearted. He said, you are brokenhearted. So guess where I am? And I let it go, because then I knew He was walking right there with me. And I’m telling you, I could not have made it this far had it not been for my trust in God. There is no way.

I testify about what God showed us and what he taught us when Marisha was sick. As I said earlier, we didn’t have the money for her treatments. We didn’t have $13,000 a month. But guess what? Things looked up one day. UPS was bringing her medication to the door. We didn’t even have to go pick it up ourselves.

And had Mia and Marisha died during COVID, we wouldn’t have been able to give them a proper burial and wouldn’t have gotten any closure. We did manage to do so. So we look at the blessing in it and not the curse. Not necessarily how bad something is, but how good God is in that situation.

We thank God because we were able to celebrate their lives and bury them like we wanted to. If we hadn’t managed to do that, it would have driven us crazy. But I was able to do bury them nicely and celebrate them, thanks to God who gave us the opportunity, and we really thank Him for it in the midst of what we were going through.

And I pray for people who don’t get to do the same for their loved ones who pass away.

If there’s something out there that can help you, I recommend that you go for it.

Advice Steven wants to share

Get the cancer screening and the health care you need

Marisha was very sick initially. She got better. And then at the end, of course, she passed away. But it taught us that we’ve really got to pay attention to health care and talk to people about the need for proper screenings and health care. They don’t ever know what kind of situation is going to present itself.

Now we all had health care. My family members that we worked and we all had health care, but because of her situation, she didn’t. And it wouldn’t pay for her medication initially, but we had to fight for it.

And since then, Medicaid has been expanded. So that is I’m sure that’s going to be a help to the community as well.

When we were growing up, my dad’s insurance covered us well. I know other people grew up without insurance, couldn’t go to the doctor when they needed to. Well, my dad’s insurance made sure we had a totally different experience. His insurance required us to go to certain dental appointments, that we had to have certain physicals once a year and all of that in order for his insurance to pay for other things that would come along.

So we didn’t have that challenge that a lot of people have.

Be an advocate for others

You would be surprised at the people who don’t know how to speak up for themselves.

I’m a talker and I don’t mind saying what I need to say, like I’m doing right now.

For instance, as I mentioned earlier, my brother and my aunt both have multiple myeloma, and I go with them to their doctor’s appointments and I talk to doctors.

So it is important, especially with the elderly community, that they have someone speaking for them. Take my dad, for instance. He’s 84 years old, and when he goes to his appointments, sometimes he’ll just say, tell them, children, because he doesn’t know how to interpret what the doctors are saying.

So then in turn, I’ll interpret to him what the doctors are saying, and then he’ll be like, oh, okay. And so collectively, we’ll make a decision on how they should proceed with whatever situation it is.

I’m telling you, it is so important to have someone fighting for you, because if you’re in a situation like with cancer or something like that, you may not feel up to talking to doctors and dealing with certain things.

And so you need people that can talk on your behalf, or who have resources to connect you to others who can.

In my church, I’m the pastor, of course, but sometimes I’m the advocate. I try to make sure that my people’s needs are met.

Be open to different treatment options

Lastly, if there’s something out there that can help you, I recommend that you go for it.

Let me talk a bit about clinical trials. I think a lot of times people are afraid of clinical trials because in the Black community especially, the first thing they say is they’re not going to be poking me and sticking things in me. And they do have that kind of idea that this is how clinical trials are.

I became the pastor of White Rock in July 2007. Three weeks into me being pastor, the chairman of my trustee board came to me and said, they’ve tested me for colon cancer, and they’re going to give me the results on such and such a date.

So I showed up for his appointment. He didn’t know I was going to be there. And we prayed and talked, and then he went back, he and his wife. And when he came back out, they had this funny look on their faces. And he said, well, pastor, I do have colon cancer and it has spread. Now we have to decide what it is that we want to do. So the doctors gave him options, but surgery was not one of them because of the metastasizing of the cancer.

So I was also with him when they asked him about different kinds of treatments and options that they had and they were offering. And, you know, sometimes when people hear the term “clinical trials”, they think that they’ll be experimented on and that the doct0rs don’t actually know if treatments are going to work.

He was a tough guy. So I had to really talk to get him to really do some things that he didn’t really want to do. And so needless to say, we walked the journey. He had a lot of good days, but he had a lot of bad days. And 3 years later he passed away. But it could have been a lot worse had he not done the trial.

And if you remember what I shared about my niece earlier, thanks to the clinical trial she underwent, she lived 7 good years—without being confined to a hospital bed or nursing facility or something. Were it not for the clinical trial, she would have been gone in 6 months. But she lived 7 good years and got to know her son too.

The culture component is vital to our understanding of why people won’t go see doctors or why people won’t join clinical trials or those kinds of things.

The Bible says that my people perish for a lack of knowledge. So sometimes people perish because they don’t have an understanding of things. And it’s trials and other things like these that help people to understand.

Special thanks again to Abbvie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for their support of our patient education program! The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

Thank you for sharing your story, Pastor Hargrove!

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Initial Symptoms

Well, I didn’t experience any symptoms. It was my annual routine mammogram, and maybe about a few days, maybe a week later, I got a phone call from my doctor.

They needed to do another mammogram and also ultrasound because they had seen a mass.

They wasn’t really sure what it was, but they were concerned.

Diagnosis

So I went and I got my mammogram done. I got my ultrasound done, and I was on my way to the gym.

As soon as I get to the gym, I get a phone call from my doctor that the mass was cancerous.

And she said, I’m going to set you up with other doctors, you pick what you want and go from there.

… you don’t hear everything that’s being said because you’re still trying to figure out them 3 words. “I have cancer.”

Reaction to the Diagnosis

And so I’m sitting in my car and so I call my pastor and I call her aunt.

And after that I said, you know what, God? Because I never questioned Him. I never asked Him why. I said, If I’m going to carry this, it’s going to be to Your glory.

I said, I’m not going to call my children yet because I know they’re going to have many questions. So let me go, wait and see and talk to my doctor, you know, get information so that I can share with them.

My concern was having to go home and tell my husband. So I went into the gym and I worked out. I went home and my husband was in the bedroom, and I went and told him, and immediately it was negativity. You know, you go there thinking the worst. And so I had to throw my hand up and said, I don’t receive that. And I walked out the room. And so it was a process.

I had a friend that I went to talk to. I used to take care of her son for 2 and a half years, and he had passed away. So I went to her, you know, and let her know what was going on. And she’s a godsend.

I thought that her son was my reason. No, it was her because she went with me through my whole cancer journey from day 1: treatments, surgery, changing my bandages. I mean, the whole bit. And even took notes that I didn’t even know she had taken.

Because, you know, when you go to see your doctor and they tell you that you have cancer, you know, your mind is all over the place. And you don’t hear everything that’s being said because you’re still trying to figure out them 3 words: I have cancer.

Treatment

Options

So my surgeon was very compassionate. He explained everything to me until I understood. He gave me options.

Then he said, you go home and you pray about it, and you come back and let me know what your decision is.

Lumpectomy and biopsy

So I elected to have a lumpectomy done.

And in the process of having the lumpectomy done they found in my sentinel nodes that I had 3 cancerous cells. That means it was outside of the mass.

And so 2 weeks later, I had to have another surgery where they had to go into my armpit. And you have 3 tiers where they took out 2 tiers of cancers.

And it was clear. Clear margin. So the cancer had not spread. So that was a blessing.

So then I had to have a biopsy done so they would know what type of cancer I had.

Chemotherapy and radiation

So in the process of finding out what type of cancer I had, I was able to get a treatment that was tailor-made for my specific cancer. So I had the first round.

I had 4 rounds of chemo every 2 weeks, and then I had to have 12 rounds of another chemo.

The first chemo was doxorubicin, what we call Red Devil. That’s really a powerful, potent treatment.

And then I had paclitaxel, which was for 3 months.

After that, I had either 32 or 33 rounds of radiation.

And from there I was cancer-free. That was 6 and a half years ago.

Being Cancer-Free

And it was due to biomarker testing that at the time I did not know I had it done. I just found out the early part of this year. And it was that that contributed to the type of treatment that I needed for my specific cancer, which worked.

And like I said, to God be all the glory because I am cancer-free. I am healed.

And the moment when the doctor pulled me in and said, hey, your scans are clear. Oh, I mean, I was ecstatic, but I already knew because I had a conversation with God, you know, and he gave me 3 words as well. And his 3 words was: I got you. And when God said he got you, he got you.

So I never was stressed or worried about my cancer journey at all.

“I had people”

You know, everybody says something different, but it was just the stress mentally, you know, physically and emotionally of going through and the challenges that I had because of it.

I had to stop working, I was no longer able to work. And so in the process, I exhausted my savings. And so I had no health, no health care.

And so I applied for assistance, but I didn’t qualify, and I had no income.

But I had people.

My social worker was awesome. And she connected me to organizations as well as my niece, because I had a sister that passed away from breast cancer in 2015. So she wasn’t as fortunate.

So I used my voice on behalf of her as well as those that are next to me, but also coming behind me.

Advice Francina Wants to Share

Get tested

So based on my experience, I now advocate testing.

You know, we have to advocate. We have to stop being silent, being quiet, and to let people know cancer does not have to be a death sentence.

Early detection is key. And so, you know, you want to make a point of people to go ahead and get their screenings done. And those that are not old enough to have mammograms to do self-breast exams monthly.

So I’m about educating and giving information, you know, sharing my story, my journey so that I can help others along the way.

And my advocacy has also extended to me urging my daughter to get tested too. And she does get tested, every 6 months. And I also have a sister on my father’s side who also gets tested.

My niece also gets tested because it was her mother that passed away, and I’m her aunt. So, you know, you got to look at that connection. So they all are proactive in getting their screenings. They get MRIs and do self-breast exams as well. I have 2 granddaughters I’m trying to teach about doing self-breast checks.

When we go to health fairs, there are a lot of young adults that are not old enough to get mammograms, don’t know how to do self-breast exams, don’t even know about it. So I’ve asked them, you know, when you go get your physicals, do you talk to your physician? They say, no.

I said, when you go, you ask them to not only perform it, but to show you how to do it yourself, because a lot of times people find those lumps themselves. Also, they’ll be the first to see a change in their body.

So they need to know what to look for. So we like to educate and give information so they are aware.

Link with support groups

Connecting with support groups helped, surrounding myself with positive people. And also learning from them about people who beat cancer. Not just seeing the success, but gathering information from them.

But it was also inspiring to see patients who are now 5 years, 10 years, 20 years cancer free. You know, that was the stuff that gave me something to push forward to.

That can help you through your journey, because there are a lot of people that have already been through what we’re going through so they can help us.

You know, they can be an encouragement and inspiration to us and also be there to support us.

Cancer doesn’t have me.
I’m going to be in control.
It’s not going to take me.

Develop a positive mindset

And also having a positive mindset was so important.

Cancer doesn’t have me. I’m going to be in control. It’s not going to take me.

I’m going to enjoy my life, you know, and do some of the things that maybe I wouldn’t have normally do.

But, you know, just to be an inspiration and encouragement to other people that listen, you can fight this, you can beat this, you can overcome this. You can still have quality of life.

Put your mind to do the things that you want to do, and surround yourself with positive people. Get connected to support groups.

Lean on family and friends

It was so amazing to be supported by my church family, their prayers, having them rally around you and cheer you on.

Plus the support from my family was so heartening. Because when I did finally tell my children, my daughter looked at me. Mom, she said, you know, you’re a strong woman, you’re going to beat this.

My son wanted to run and come to his mama. You know, but they all know that their mama is a fighter.

I’m not one to give up. I’m not one to quit. So I’m going to push. I’m going to press.

But my daughter, every time I look around, she was leaving Maryland, coming to see about her mama. If I didn’t sound right on the phone, she was there.

So, like I said, my family means a lot, because they see me doing my journey. But it also helps them too, as we’re creating memories and also leaving legacies that they can follow and continue with.

Be aware of any family history

Another key thing that I tell people is, know your family history.

See, when I was growing up you didn’t ask questions as a child. So now all your matriarchs and the patriarchs are no longer here.

You know, you don’t have the information. So it has to start from me with educating my children and my grandkids.

And I’m seeing me when I’m going through and understanding what I do and why I do it.

So with their support and the support of my friends, you know, I’m I believe I’m making a difference.

Learn about biomarkers and why they matter

I also wanted to talk a little bit about biomarkers and their importance. Basically, they get a sample from your tumor and they test it, you know, and then and it determines the type of cancer that you have.

Well, I’m still learning about biomarker testing, but what it did for me was it was able to target the type of cancer that I had. So a lot of people are not aware that they’ve had it done because, you know, you didn’t hear of it. Even my doctors, they didn’t tell me anything about biomarker testing.

It was my advocacy group that was discussing it because it’s something that we’re trying to get out there trying to talk with our lawmakers. Making that a policy. We’re not there yet. So we’re trying to get petitions and we’re educating, you know, our lawmakers. With personal stories.

That’s something that we could bring to the table when it comes to insurance companies, because right now, a lot of insurance companies will not pay for it because they feel that it’s experimental. But when you got these positive outcomes from people who have had it done to me, you know that makes it makes a difference.

So now they can go back and see, okay, what treatment would be best to combat this type of cancer. And so for me, that’s what they did.

So the regimen that I was on, even though it was hard, it was something that did what it needed to do. And that’s why I am cancer-free because it was targeted for my specific cancer.

It’s cost effective because, if you really don’t know what you what you’re dealing with, you don’t really know what type of treatment is best for that. You’re trying different regimens and it puts a lot of stress and strain on the patient.

But if you’re a doctor and you know something is targeted that this is going to work for this type of cancer, if you use this type of treatment, this medication, then, okay, you’re saving your patient, but you’re also giving that that person quality of life and also extending their life.

I want everybody to be advocates for themselves.
Because who knows your body better than you do?

Advocate for others—and yourself

Let me finish by sharing the most important efforts in the work I’m doing with the American Cancer Society when it comes to the black and African American community.

Bringing about awareness, equipping them, empowering them to get out there and to do what they need to do for themselves. Leading by example. Sharing my story with them and letting them know.

Again, cancer is not a death sentence. Early detection is key. We must get out there and do our screenings, and also do our monthly breast exams, and not allow fear to keep you from getting the care.

Because everybody deserves to have some type of quality care.

I want everybody to be advocates for themselves. Because who knows your body better than you do?

And sometimes you go to doctors and you tell them things are going on and they push you off. And my thing is, if you go to a doctor and they cannot do what you’re asking or requiring them to do, go somewhere else where somebody will.

Because there are people that have been diagnosed and they’re already stage 3. Stage 4. Whereas if they would have had it done initially, they may have caught it earlier.

So we have to also be advocates for ourselves. We deserve to have care. We deserve to be listened to and to be understood.

Special thanks again to Abbvie, Genmab, and Karyopharm for their support of our patient education program! The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

Thank you for sharing your story, Francina!

Inspired by Francina's story?

Share your story, too!

Thank you to Johnson & Johnson for its support of our patient education program! The Patient Story retains full editorial control over all content.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider for treatment decisions.

Name: Paula C.
Diagnosis:
- Colorectal Cancer
Staging:
- Stage 3
Symptoms:
- Painful gas
- Irregular bowel movements
- Blood in stool
- Anemia
- Severe pain
- Weight loss
- Fainting spells
Treatment:
- Surgery: tumor resection

Table of Contents

Introduction
Pre-diagnosis
Diagnosis
Treatment
- Surgery to Remove the Tumor
Genetic Testing & Family History
Experiencing Bias
Words of Advice

I had all the signs and symptoms that they tell you to look out for when it comes to colorectal cancer, but at the time, I didn’t know what they were.

Introduction

I’m in love with my best friend and partner, Lara. We have been together for 38 years and married for 10 years. I’m a cat mom to a little cat named Trixie.

I enjoy dancing and singing. I’m a Duran Duran fan and that’s how I met my wife. For our 38th anniversary, we went to their 40-year celebration in Birmingham, England.

I’m also a great cook and I have a collection of amazing cookbooks. I’m trying to make my way to some of the best restaurants in the world.

Pre-diagnosis

Initial Symptoms

I had all the signs and symptoms that they tell you to look out for when it comes to colorectal cancer, but at the time, I didn’t know what they were.

In the early days, I always had painful gas and weird poop. When I experienced them, I would automatically blame what I ate and drank, so I would dismiss them a lot of times.

But then I started to have more painful symptoms, especially with the gas. I told my wife that I felt like I had gas going up and it was getting trapped. There were times when it hurt so bad that I wanted to scream.

I started seeing more blood. I went to see a doctor who said I probably had hemorrhoids.

PCP Appointment

I started going to the doctor by the end of 2012. I went to my primary care physician, but he didn’t think much of it at the time. When the pain was bad, I would get told that I probably had stomach flu.

Symptoms Worsen

I started to see signs of blood in late 2013. Sometimes I would be straining to poop. Other times, I would have diarrhea. I didn’t have my regular PCP at the time, so I would see whoever was available and they told me to change my diet. When I told one doctor that I saw some blood, he thought I might have stomach flu, so he gave me antibiotics.

By 2014, I started seeing more blood. I went to see a doctor who said I probably had hemorrhoids, so whenever I saw blood, I assumed it was that. I also started having bad pain and being anemic, but I didn’t know it then. I was cold all the time.

Being Dismissed

They said things that a lot of people under the age of 50 would be told because they were too young. “You probably have IBS.” “It’s probably hemorrhoids.” “You just have gas.” “I’m sure it’s nothing. You’re too young.” I heard a lot of that over the year.

By the time 2014 came around, I had been on antibiotics for nine months from different doctors I had seen since 2013.

There were times when the pain would be worse and I would have to go to urgent care. I went at least six times. The first few times, they would say I had gastritis or something stomach-related and send me home with antibiotics and painkillers. The last few times, I was bent over and freezing because I was anemic. I started to lose weight and ended up losing 45 lbs.

I have experienced a lot of bias and straight-up racism with medical care.

The doctor came into the room and before he even said his name or mine, he said, “I don’t give drugs in this room.” My wife took the doctor out and started yelling at him in the hallway while I sat there, thinking, Don’t yell. They will not help me if you yell.

I have experienced a lot of bias and straight-up racism with medical care. In 2014, I had doctors ask, “Did you tell me you were gay? Listen, it doesn’t matter what’s wrong with you because you’re going to hell.”

Losing Her Job

I got a job that year, but I was having such a hard time because I couldn’t keep up. Then I started to see my hands turn white and thought I was working too hard and planning for our wedding was too much. But the doctors kept telling me that I was okay.

I started getting depressed because I didn’t feel good. I felt that I wasn’t pulling my weight or helping my wife like I should. I was telling people I couldn’t do things, but the doctor said I was okay so it was starting to mess with my head. I didn’t want to tell people when it was bad, so I was hiding it, which made it worse.

I ended up losing my job because I kept calling in sick.

I was so sick and dizzy that I could barely see and stand up.

Diagnosis

Turning Point

The day after we got married, we went to a Broadway play, but while we were there, I felt terrible. My colon was becoming completely blocked and I was starting to have serious complications. By the time the play was over, I was so sick and dizzy that I could barely see and stand up. I was shaking, my body was red, and my skin was hot.

When we got back to my best friend’s house, I ran past the door and barely made it to the bathroom. I had the most humiliating accident. I was lying on his bathroom floor and knew that this was bad. I knew something was wrong.

Around January, I started to have fainting spells. I went to an urgent care on a Thursday and said, “Ma’am, I don’t care what you say. Nothing is coming out of me but blood. Nothing!” The person behind the counter got a nurse, who came out and said, “I’ve seen some of your records. Has anybody given you a FIT test?”

I didn’t know what a FIT test was. She was a bit worried. She said, “You probably ate something red, but I’m going to give you this test. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lab here, so I will not have the results until next week.”

I was in agony and stayed in bed all weekend. I was going back and forth to the bathroom and blacking out. I called my wife and we went back to the ER. This time, I must have looked bad enough because they kept me. I still had a 13-hour wait, but they said, “Get her a room. Get some scans. We’re going to do a colonoscopy.”

I don’t remember much after that. I was so sick that they started to medicate me and put me out. When I woke up the next morning, it was time for rounds and the doctors were going to come and talk to me. They did scans, blood work, EKGs, and all these tests, and they tried to do a colonoscopy.

They tried doing a colonoscopy, but they couldn’t get through.

Getting the Official Diagnosis

Around eight doctors came in. My heart started pounding. One doctor said they tried doing a colonoscopy, but they couldn’t get through. I didn’t know what to say after. It was a devastating way to find out I had colorectal cancer.

Reaction to the Diagnosis

What did that man say to me? What did those people tell me? Why did all those people ignore me? How long does this cancer take to grow? Black people have a higher risk of this? I was pissed and it was messing with me as much as the cancer was messing with me. I was mad and when I’m mad, I keep it in because I don’t want to hurt other people. Doubt, depression, and misery set in, and I needed to find a way to turn it around.

Treatment

Surgery to Remove the Tumor

They said, “We’re going to do emergency surgery. Based on what we see, it looks bad. We believe the tumor has broken outside of the colon wall. It might have some interference with your liver and other organs. We’re not sure what we’re going to find. We’re possibly going to do radiation and chemo because it looks massive. We might have to shrink it first or we might have to go in, do surgery, clean it up, and fix what we can. We need to decide. We’re going to keep you here because you are completely dehydrated.” I was skin and bones, and an absolute mess.

The tumor board said it looked bad, so we weren’t going to do chemotherapy or radiation, but we were going to do surgery. They brought me back to the hospital and prepped me for surgery. I was there for about four days prior and then a week and a half after.

The tumor was encapsulated in the colon and has not broken outside of the colon wall.

I went in early morning to prep and they told us that surgery would take 12 to 14 hours. They said, “We believe you are stage 3. When we go in, we might have to take out your uterus. We will take out whatever the tumor has affected. We will take out part or most of your colon. You will probably have a permanent ostomy. We may have to take out part of your liver. If it has gone deeper into the stomach, we will decide from there. We will do what we must do and that’s all we can tell you right now.”

When I woke up, the nurses came over and said, “Ms. Chambers, your doctor will explain everything.” He came in and said, “When we got in, it wasn’t what we thought.” Lara said the doctors came to her about four hours into surgery. They found that the tumor was encapsulated in the colon and has not broken outside of the colon wall. My body was completely swollen. I was blocked. They took out 34 lymph nodes. The whole surgery took 5 ½ hours. When they got the pathology back, there was no cancer in any of the lymph nodes.

Genetic Testing & Family History

Once my doctors knew that I had colorectal cancer, they did all the right things. They asked all the questions, especially my family history. They asked me repeatedly.

I decided to stay at the county hospital because they saved my life. I found my team, so I continued my care with the oncology and GI staff. In conjunction with UTHealth, they were able to offer genetic testing, which I qualified for and was able to do through my wife’s insurance. They suggested that because they think I have a genetic component. They tested me for Lynch, but it was negative.

That same year, my father-in-law and I did a DNA test and the results said I had another brother. A cousin contacted me and we talked about what was going on and I found out about David. He allowed me to share part of his story. He is an ostomate and was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer two years before me. He didn’t know about our family because he was adopted when he was a kid. We then found out that there’s a family history of not only colorectal cancer but GI cancers, and it runs deep in the family.

Look at your own biases. Think about when you are at the doctor yourself and how you would like to be treated. Keep it professional but bring in that real spirit of caring.

Experiencing Bias

I experienced homophobia, racial bias, bigotry, and a lot of misogyny, which I think went into some of my diagnoses. A couple of people told me I was hysterical and that it was in my head. It was so freeing to tell my story for the first time. It brought people into my life who had a similar story.

Meeting them and finding that community made me realize that it wasn’t just me and that I wasn’t too young. It wasn’t because I was Black. It wasn’t any one of these things. There’s a way that we look at cancer and at diagnosis, treatment, and preventative medicine that needs to be changed. I had whole conversations about this cancer that has stigmas around it that I did not even know I was supposed to be ashamed of.

I’m a nine-year survivor and in those nine years, I’ve seen things change. Things take time. It’s like pulling a bandage off a wound and having the wound heal. We have to treat it and give it light. We have to uncover some of the issues with which we are dealing. Because we all have our own biases, it’s important for anybody in the healthcare field, especially here in the United States, to look at things within us that we need to look at.

Innately, I think most people who go into healthcare do it because they want to. It’s their calling. It’s also their decision to be in healthcare, a space where they care for people who show up in their rawest moments. It’s important to have grace and a little bit of humility. If someone’s coming to you, they’re putting their trust in you.

Treat people with respect and dignity. Ask them, “Who are you? What happened to you? How did you get here? How can I help you? How did you get to me? Thank you for coming here.” Listen to them and meet people where they are.

The calling in healthcare is not for everyone. We still have laws, rules, and regulations, and we are to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Look at your own biases. Think about when you are at the doctor yourself and how you would like to be treated. Keep it professional but bring in that real spirit of caring.

I want people to not be afraid to go to the doctor. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anybody.

People need to get screened, especially those in the Black and LGBTQIA+ community. You need to feel comfortable and know that there are more and more places with affirming care and who show it. They want you to know that you are welcome. Look for the rainbows.

Let us know that we are welcome. Ask me what my pronoun is. Is that my partner or my wife? Do not assume. Ask us what we need and be in partnership with us.

I want people to not be afraid to go to the doctor. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anybody. Know your family history. A lot of gay kids are kicked out of the house when they are young, but a lot of them stay in touch with their family members.

Words of Advice

We need to get screened for colorectal cancer. The screening age now is 45, but if you have a family history of colorectal cancer like me, especially if you have beautiful melanated skin, you want to make sure that you’re talking to your doctors early.

Cancer affects the family and not just the individual. If there’s cancer in the family, it needs to be openly discussed. We need to be tested. We need to know our family history.

Nobody is going to care for you the way you do. Always put yourself first.

Cancer is a scary word, but it’s a word. People survive, thrive, and live with cancer. We’re called survivors from the day that we are diagnosed, so from that day, I had a choice. Am I going to live with this or am I going to let it take me? I needed to find a way to live with it and I did.

But I didn’t want to just live—I wanted to thrive. If cancer’s something that you’re afraid of and it’s the reason you’re not getting screened, you’re doing yourself a disservice.

Advocate for yourself. You have the right to advocate for fair treatment and humane treatment. Nobody is going to care for you the way you do. Always put yourself first. Put the mask on first and take care of yourself first. Nothing can be healthy and whole until you are healthy and whole. If you’re not comfortable, say so.

Special thanks again to Johnson & Johnson for its support of our independent patient education content. The Patient Story retains full editorial control.

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Gwendolyn Jackson’s Metastatic Cervical Cancer Story

Post author By Katrina Villareal
Post date May 24, 2024
No Comments on Gwendolyn Jackson’s Metastatic Cervical Cancer Story

December 4, 2024

Gwendolyn Jackson’s Metastatic Cervical Cancer Story

Interviewed by: Alexis Moberger
Edited by: Katrina Villareal

Gwendolyn Jackson initially experienced heavy menstrual cycles, back pain, and bloating, which her doctor suspected to be fibroids. Despite regular tests, including an HPV test and ultrasound, her symptoms persisted. Later, clear fluid leakage led to an ER visit where an MRI and biopsy confirmed cervical cancer.

She underwent a hysterectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation, but further tests revealed the cancer had spread, drastically changing her prognosis. Severe side effects from treatment, including weakness, nausea, multiple strokes, and heart attacks due to dehydration, required intensive therapy. Despite initial hesitation, she joined a clinical trial at MD Anderson, which has helped manage her condition more effectively than traditional chemotherapy.

Throughout her journey, Gwendolyn faced misconceptions about clinical trials and the stigma of cervical cancer within the African-American community. Financial challenges resulted in losing her job, insurance, and assets. She found crucial support through Cervivor, an online community for women with cervical cancer.

Gwendolyn’s experience highlights the importance of self-advocacy in healthcare, the life-saving potential of clinical trials, and the need for greater awareness and support for cancer patients.

Name: Gwendolyn J.
Diagnosis:
- Cervical Cancer
Staging:
- Stage 4
Initial Symptoms:
- Heavy menstrual cycles
- Severe back pain
- Stomach bloating
Treatments:
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation
- Tisotumab vedotin (innovaTV 301 clinical trial)

This interview has been edited for clarity. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider to make treatment decisions.

I knew I wasn’t pregnant, but it felt like my water bag had burst. I said, ‘Okay, this is not good.’

Introduction

I’m from Houston, Texas. I used to be a case manager who helped house homeless individuals, which I loved to do so dearly.

I’m a mother of two. I have a 31-year-old daughter and a 28-year-old son. I’m a grandmother of two granddaughters and one grandson.

I’m the founder and CEO of a non-profit organization called the Roy L. Jackson Community Outreach Center. I’m also part of an organization called Cervivor.

Pre-diagnosis

Initial Symptoms

I started having heavy cycles, severe back pain, and bloating in the stomach.

I went to the doctor regularly. When I went for my well-woman exam, I told my doctor. He said, “I think you have fibroids. It’s very common in the African-American community.” That’s what it sounded like to me. “We’ll run some more tests.”

My symptoms persisted, so I went to my mother because I’m that girl who thinks mom can fix everything. I told her, “I’m having very heavy cycles. I don’t know what’s going on. The doctor said he was going to run some tests. They haven’t called me back yet.” She said, “You’re going through pre-menopause. I went through the same thing at the same age. It’s just pre-menopause.”

My cycle wasn’t getting any better. I finally went back to my doctor and he ran some tests. He did the HPV test and it came back negative. I was still having symptoms, so he said, “I’m going to do an ultrasound.” He did and said, “I see fibroids, so we might have to do a hysterectomy.”

In October 2020, while I was at work, I started leaking clear fluid from my vagina. I knew I wasn’t pregnant, but it felt like my water bag had burst. I said, “Okay, this is not good.”

When I saw cervical cancer written on that paper, I lost it. He wrote it down before they even found out I had it.

Going to the ER

I wish I could remember the name of the doctor who saved my life. I don’t know what would’ve happened if it wasn’t for him and that MRI.

When I went to the emergency room, a younger doctor who looked like he had just become a doctor said, “I want to run some more tests on you. I don’t feel comfortable with everything you told me. What can we lose? Let’s do an MRI.”

After the MRI, he came back and said, “I see fibroids, but I see something under the fibroid, so I’m going to send you to a gynecologist specialist, so they can run more tests because I’m not sure,” but he put “cervical cancer” on my paperwork.

I went home and did the worst thing I could do. I went online and searched “cervical cancer.” My father passed away from cancer, so when I saw cervical cancer written on that paper, I lost it. He wrote it down before they even found out I had it.

Diagnosis

Seeing a Specialist

I went to the specialist who said, “We have to run a biopsy. Calm down. Don’t worry. You’re pretty healthy. I see all the tests they’ve done. I don’t think you have cervical cancer. It might just be fibroids.”

Getting the Official Diagnosis

I was diagnosed during the COVID pandemic, so I had to go by myself. On the way, I talked to my mother and my sisters. Everybody said it was just fibroids. My sister said, “We have fibroids. We had to have a hysterectomy too.” They were reassuring me, so that’s what I thought.

I went in thinking I had fibroids and left finding out I had cancer. You will never forget the day. I was diagnosed on November 17, 2020.

I started treatment right after I recovered from the hysterectomy. I thought it was just a preventative measure to make sure I was okay.

Reaction to the Diagnosis

When you first hear, “You have cancer,” it doesn’t register. For some reason, I thought I was exempt because I was helping people with cancer. I started my nonprofit in memory of my father who died from lung cancer. I thought, I eat right. I run five miles every morning. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. What did I miss?

Cervical cancer has this stigma that people who get it are either prostitutes, have a high sexual drive, or don’t go for their well-woman exam. That’s not me. On the way home, I thought it was something I did wrong.

I wanted to find out for sure first. The doctor put it on the chart and then gave me paperwork for the referral. I was left alone not knowing if this really was true. That two-week wait was difficult mentally.

Treatment

Hysterectomy

They said, “We’re going to go in and remove the whole tumor. After, you’ll do radiation and that’s it. Your life will be back to the way it was,” so that’s what I thought.

I had a full hysterectomy on December 17, 2020. The tumor was 9 centimeters. Before I went in, they were telling me, “You’ll be fine. After we remove the tumor, radiation will take care of everything else.”

After 6 to 8 weeks, I went for radiation. My doctor did some blood work and he was concerned with the results. He said, “The blood work didn’t change. Something isn’t right. I’m going to do an MRI and a PET scan. We have to see what’s going on.”

After I had the hysterectomy, they said, “We’re going to do radiation and you’ll take a chemo pill. That’s just protocol.” I started treatment right after I recovered from the hysterectomy. I thought it was just a preventative measure to make sure I was okay. They were thinking they got everything not knowing that it was spreading.

The chemo was so hard on me. Some days, you can’t get out of bed. Some days, you don’t have an appetite.

Cancer Spread

They found out that my cancer had spread to my hip bone, my legs, and my spine. Imagine going from everything is going to be okay to find out you have 16 months to live.

I said, “God, I don’t want to die. I just had grandchildren. I just turned 49. I haven’t hit 50 yet. I’ve been waiting to be 50 all my life. Please give me more time.”

When they realized it spread, my team had to come back together and treat me differently. They were going to try a bone marrow transplant, but they couldn’t do it because of how mine spread. My insurance would no longer approve it.

Knowing that was all they could do, I got scared. I have anxiety and depression, and I take medication for them now. I’ve never had depression before, but because of all of this, I take medication for it.

Chemotherapy & Radiation

I didn’t want a port. I asked, “Can we figure out something? Is there a way that I can take pills?” I took chemo pills and did radiation.

Side Effects of Chemotherapy & Radiation

The chemo was so hard on me. Some days, you can’t get out of bed. Some days, you don’t have an appetite. You don’t want to eat. You look at food and get nauseous. People don’t understand that. It’s not that we don’t want to. I’m trying. I’m showing up every day and doing the best I can. I used to tell my dad, “Come on, you can eat. Come on, you can get out of bed.” Now, I understand.

The radiation that targeted my cervical cancer was terrible. It burned the lining of my stomach and I kept getting infections.

I used to help my dad button and zip his clothes. I have the same issues now. I can’t button or zip. These are everyday things that we take for granted. I also felt numbness in my fingers and my feet.

I couldn’t keep anything in my stomach. I was vomiting and had diarrhea. They were giving me medication for everything, but nothing was working.

I feel so weak and cold all the time. I always have a heater with me, but I was so, so weak that I didn’t think I was going to make it. My daughter and the guy I was dating at the time were very helpful. They would bathe me and help me get up.

Because I lost so much weight and wasn’t strong, even my doctor was saying, “You’re getting weaker and weaker.” He kept prescribing me medication for nausea. They finally found a prescription that worked for me and that I love.

Radiation burned my face. It was burning and itching at the same time. My face swelled up and blistered. My doctor told me about a cream I could use, which cleared up my face.

The radiation that targeted my cervical cancer was terrible. It burned the lining of my stomach and I kept getting infections. I never want to do that again ever.

Strokes & Heart Attacks

When I went to the hospital, the ER doctor said, “She has high blood pressure.” I said, “No, I don’t have high blood pressure.” When he checked, my blood pressure was very low. When they ran tests, he said, “You’re having a stroke and a heart attack, and it’s because you are severely dehydrated. You need fluids in the body to make all the organs work.” I didn’t even know you could have a stroke or a heart attack from being severely dehydrated.

I had to stop treatment temporarily because I was in inpatient therapy for 14 days.

Recovering from the Strokes & Heart Attacks

I couldn’t walk, so I was in a wheelchair. I had to stop treatment temporarily because I was in inpatient therapy for 14 days and then I went to the Centre for Neuro Skills in Webster, Texas. I always speak so highly of them because they gave me my life back.

When I came in, I felt so helpless. I wouldn’t use the restroom, even though I was there from 9 to 2 o’clock. I didn’t want anyone to take me. I ended up getting a UTI and people there had to tell me, “We’re here to help. We want to make you better. You have to allow us to help you. You’re still the same person.”

I had three mild strokes. They didn’t understand the last one I had. They said, “Usually when you have a transient ischemic attack, you bounce right back.” I didn’t, so he said the last one wasn’t a TIA. It was a regular stroke because I had all the symptoms. I had to go from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane.

Because of the strokes, I can’t remember exactly what chemo I was on.

Joining a Clinical Trial

I met a doctor at one of Cervivor’s retreats. She was different if that makes sense. I knew that she cared about people. She said, “When you get back to Houston, let’s stay in touch,” because she worked at MD Anderson. I said, “My treatments are not at MD Anderson.” She said, “Let’s just stay in touch.”

My doctor never brought up clinical trials. I was doing some research. I kept hearing other patients talk about clinical trials when I went to the doctor. I decided I was going to ask my doctor, but I want to have information before I go in. I wanted to educate myself.

My doctor said, ‘This is great, but these clinical trials are at MD Anderson. If you can get in, go there. I’ll send your medical records over.’

I reached out to the doctor at MD Anderson and asked about clinical trials. She gave me all the information, told me which ones she recommended, and sent an email right away. It was after hours and she was volunteering her hours to help me. She’s still a big supporter of mine. She still checks on me and asks how I’m doing.

I took the information to my doctor and my doctor said, “This is great, but these clinical trials are at MD Anderson. If you can get in, go there. I’ll send your medical records over.”

My dad enrolled in clinical trials at the end and I said, “Y’all not helping him. This is not helping him.” My dad was such a great guy. He said, “This is how they’ll find out if it works for someone else. If it doesn’t work for me, they know it doesn’t work. If I can help someone, that’s what I want to do. I want to help someone.”

I didn’t understand at that time because I wasn’t a patient. But when you become a patient, you feel that way. If it doesn’t work for me, we know we have to try something else. If it works for me, that means this could be it. If I have to go through all of this to make sure it can save me and someone else, it’s so worth it.

When I went to MD Anderson, they had to do all the scans themselves. Their team comes in and speaks with you, and they have a team for everything. Even though I had cervical cancer, they also had a bone cancer specialist.

They redid all the tests I already had to make sure what they had in the file matched. Once they did everything over and made sure I was good to go, they started talking about treatment.

The clinical trial I’m on is called innovaTV 301. It’s a phase 3 study of tisotumab vedotin.

I like tisotumab vedotin better than traditional chemotherapy. It’s not so hard on my body.

Side Effects of Tisotumab Vedotin

They gave me medication for nausea and vitamin B12. So far, so good. The steroids are putting weight on me. I was a little nauseous at first, but the pill helped with that.

I lost my hair. I went bald when I first started and then it started growing back.

With bone cancer, being cold is a no-no for me. It’s very painful, so I wear a lot of warm-ups or layers to try and stay warm. Even in the summer, when I feel cold, I’ll be in warm-ups. I tell people all the time to be nice to people in warm-ups because you never know why they’re wearing them even when it’s warm out.

I noticed my appetite was not the same. I’ll crave something because of the steroids, but when I get it in front of me, I might take one or two bites and then I don’t want it anymore.

I like tisotumab vedotin better than traditional chemotherapy. It’s not so hard on my body. Do we know if it’s working? I don’t know if they think it’ll work. They’re buying me more time, so if that’s what it can do, I’m okay with that.

In the African-American community, clinical trials are frowned upon…In our mind, we still think we are being experimented on.

Misconceptions

In the African-American community, clinical trials are frowned upon. I think it goes back to when they were using African Americans for experiments and being the guinea pigs. In our mind, we still think we are being experimented on. If you tell anybody you’re doing clinical trials, they think you’re being a guinea pig.

I didn’t have the support. Everybody supports you when you’re going through chemo, but when it comes to clinical trials, they think you’re letting them experiment on you. They don’t care. I have to keep it to myself. I’ll tell people who are battling cancer that I’m in clinical trials, but other people, I don’t.

When it comes to the medical team, sometimes we feel like we’re not being heard. At first, I felt like my doctor wasn’t hearing me when I said it wasn’t fibroids and that something was going on, but they kept brushing me off.

I thought it was just Black women who go through that. Being in the teal and white community and the Cervivor community, I found out that it’s women as a whole. They are not listening to us.

Insurance Coverage

People think that if you want to be a patient at MD Anderson, you can just show up. It doesn’t work like that. When I first found out I had cancer, I wanted to go to MD Anderson because they’re number one. My insurance wasn’t in their network so they couldn’t take me.

While I was going through all of this, I still had insurance because I was still employed. They took excellent care of me during that time, but they could only take me so far. I was getting temporary disability, but my doctor put “permanently disabled” on my paperwork, so I had to resign from my job. They knew I wasn’t coming back, so they said, “You’re going to have to figure out your insurance yourself.”

Even with insurance, I was paying $2,000 to $3,000 for treatment. I lost everything. I lost my cars and my townhouse. The clinical trial was free for me, so that was good. They just had to make sure everything lined up.

I needed people who understood what I was going through, the stigma that comes with it, and that we have a voice. We didn’t do anything wrong.

Finding Support Online

I felt like nobody understood what I was feeling or going through. My mother kept saying, “It’s going to be okay,” but I told her, “What if it’s not? What if I die? What if this is my story?” But, of course, she didn’t want to hear that. “No, you’re going to be okay.”

My sisters were supportive, but nobody knew what I was going through. The only person that I felt I could talk to was deceased. My father would be the only one that would know what I was going through.

I went online and found Cervivor. I needed them more than they probably knew. I needed people who understood what I was going through, the stigma that comes with it, and that we have a voice. We didn’t do anything wrong.

I went to a retreat because I needed to be around these women. I needed them to love on me and I needed to love on them. They gave me hope. They said, “You can do this. You can fight this. Don’t give up. We support you.” They have a group chat where they talk about whatever they’re going through. If somebody doesn’t respond, they all get nervous.

Words of Advice

Cancer taught me to slow down because I was always on the go. I never slowed down to notice anything. Now I would stop and notice things. “Did you know mom has roses in front of her house?” And then I would stop and smell them.

Everything matters to me now because I don’t know how long I have. When I had my stroke, I couldn’t walk and we take that for granted. Even going to the restroom, I needed someone to help me and I appreciate that so much now.

Clinical trials can save us. I’m doing pretty well. It’s working for me. I’m still alive because of the clinical trial. My brother, who has cancer, is on a clinical trial and doing well too.

A doctor told me, “When you go into the doctor’s office, they are working for you. You are not working for them.” When you have that in mind as you’re going in, it’s different.

If you feel like something is not right, speak up. If there’s a treatment that you don’t want to do, say it. We get so nervous when we go in that we freeze up. Use your voice.

Cancer taught me to slow down because I was always on the go… Everything matters to me now.

In addition to Gwendolyn’s narrative, The Patient Story offers a diverse collection of cervical cancer stories. These empowering stories provide real-life experiences, valuable insights, and perspectives on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options for cancer.

Thank you for sharing your story, Gwendolyn!

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How Patients Can Establish Relationships with Their Healthcare Providers

Stories from Raleigh, NC

The Importance of Cancer Screening in the Black Community | Lemuel Eley

Introduction

Getting a Heart Attack

Recovering from the Heart Attack

View on Doctors and Health Care Growing Up

Role of Faith & Religious Beliefs in Health Care

Importance of Taking Care of One’s Health

Advice to Black Males

Inspired by Lemuel's story?

Stories Tackling Cancer Disparities

Overcoming Racial Barriers in Clinical Trials from a Lung Cancer Oncologist

Introduction

A Winding Path to Medicine

Why Oncology Became Her Calling

Growing Up in Mattapan

Developing the CREATE Initiative

Most Common Lung Cancer Symptoms

Demystifying Clinical Trials

A Patient’s Clinical Trial Success Story

Overcoming Barriers in Black Communities

The Role of Black Physicians in Healthcare

Stories from Raleigh, NC

Roshonda’s Stage 4 Rectal Cancer Story

Inspired by Roshonda's story?

Related Cancer Stories

More Rectal Cancer Stories

A Cancer Scare Taught Me the Importance of Screening | Jasmine Smith

Introduction

Her work for Jack and Jill of America

Breast Cancer Scare

Takeaways from Jasmine’s Cancer Scare

“It’s better to know”

Listen to yourself

Encourage others to get themselves checked

Work to break the cycle

Take care of yourself first

Take stock of the resources at your disposal

Inspired by Jasmine's story?

Related Cancer Stories

Breast Cancer Stories

The Importance of Cancer Screening | Pastor Steven Hargrove

Introduction

Family history of cancer

Marisha’s story

Leveraging his experience to help others through church

Learning about hospice care

Using his experience as a testimony and to offer advice

The impact on cancer screening from having a health care ministry in his church

Helping the community get the best health care possible

On God and suffering

Advice Steven wants to share

Get the cancer screening and the health care you need

Be an advocate for others

Be open to different treatment options

Inspired by Pastor Hargrove's story?

Related Cancer Stories

More Renal Cell Carcinoma Stories

More Breast Cancer Stories

More Multiple Myeloma Stories

Francina’s Stage 2B Breast Cancer Story

Introduction

Pre-diagnosis

Initial Symptoms