Breast Cancer Preventers Raise Awareness

Jacquelyn Crenshaw isn’t new to spotting breast tumors. Having worked in mammography for more than 40 years, she urged a crowd of over a dozen women to get their annual mammograms, perform monthly breast self-examinations, and above all, ​“know your breast density.”

This was just some advice Crenshaw, who works as a senior manager of breast imaging at Smilow Cancer Hospital, gave last Wednesday afternoon at the Westville boutique BLOOM at 794 Edgewood Ave. for a breast cancer workshop. 

The workshop was organized by Sister’s Journey, a nonprofit aimed at raising awareness on breast cancer treatment and prevention strategies.

Proudly sporting a pink breast cancer shirt was Carolyn R. Jackson, 64, as she watched friend and Sister’s Journey board member Eileen W. Esdaile arrange chairs for the incoming attendees.

Jackson has known about Sister’s Journey since its inception in 1999, thanks to her close friendship with its founder, Linda-White Epps. It wasn’t until she was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago that she became more active and described the group as a ​“lifesaver.”

“I’ve always listened to everything that she [Esdaile] had to go through,” Jackson said about Esdaile’s own journey with breast cancer. ​“I’ve learned over the years what to do. I paid attention to all the different things that were out there, so when it came time for me, I knew what I had to do.”

A two-time cancer survivor, Esdaile, 63, was first diagnosed at 37 and later at 50 years old. After her second diagnosis, she went through genetic testing twice and educated herself on her family history. It was through these experiences that she learned that you should redo genetic testing every 10 years to test for different genes that may surface. 

Esdaille emphasized the growing number of breast cancer diagnoses amongst younger women, saying that she organizes a group chat with metastatic breast cancer patients, all of whom are under 40. She encouraged women to self advocate and take part in clinical trials to ​“be a part of the solution” and help tailor medical solutions for minority women.

She also noted how distrust of medical professionals amongst the Black community can impede people who need the most assistance from seeking it.

“It’s so important at a young age to know your body … so that when you do feel something that’s a little suspicious or odd you can equip yourself to know how to question your doctor and ask for further testing,” she said.

Sitting in the audience was Tatiana Tate, the 31-year-old founder of the nonprofit Chemo Divas Foundation. For Tate, Wednesday’s event was a platform to get a sense of cancer treatment and awareness organizations around the city, learn how to support other groups, and ​“fill those gaps in the area” in terms of cancer support.

Tate founded the nonprofit in honor of her mother Paulette A. Steeves, who died in 2021 from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Tate was her mother’s caregiver during that time. She said that Steeves’s diagnosis increased her perceived susceptibility to diseases and medical barriers when seeking treatment. An avid bodybuilder and personal trainer, Steeves was training for a marathon when she was diagnosed in 2019. 

“Even across different socioeconomic statuses, there’s people who have all the resources in the world and they’re still getting this disease,” she said. ​“When a patient says ​‘Why me?’ my mom would say ​‘Why not me?’”

An Atlanta native, Tate moved to New Haven over a year ago and is now using her nonprofit to advocate for women of color cancer patients and survivors, provide community support and link to outside resources and organizations, and provide financial assistance for those in need. 

“It’s just something that I think is better to learn and understand and prepare for because even if you may not get cancer, someone in your family might or a friend or a co-worker,” she said. ​“Community support during a cancer journey is so important that it will only benefit us all to better understand how to support those going through the disease.”

Sister’s Journey member Rachael Mccray-Leftridge is also no stranger to cancer, having lost her to from the disease and having also been diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in November 2015.

After discovering the cancer during a mammogram appointment, she subsequently underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Now a cancer survivor, Mccray-Leftridge strongly advocated for learning and sharing medical history. She attributed her successful recovery to her supportive medical and care team.

“At my age, my elders didn’t share their medical history,” she said. ​“All you knew was maybe aunt such-and-such was in the hospital … You were led to assume [what happened]. The only history I knew of definitively was my mom.”

Near the end of Wednesday’s presentation, attendee Tanasia Edwards popped the million dollar question: How do you properly self-examine breasts?

It was then Crenshaw beckoned her to the front and demonstrated with some models. 

For people to remember to self-examine their own breasts, Crenshaw suggested doing a such a self-exam once a month on the day of their birthday. 

Using the pads of your index and pointer finger, touch around the nipples and sides of the breast, paying attention to any lumps and abnormal spots. 

Crenshaw advised those with highly dense breasts to get an ultrasound in addition to a mammography to accurately screen for lumps and abnormalities. Mammograms are done multiple times to get accurate screenings and the amount of attempts done is related to the size of one’s breasts. 

Edwards, 28, said that she didn’t know how to self-examine her breast until this workshop, previously relying on exams done by her doctor. Now, she hopes to gain more agency and autonomy over her own health, seeking out resources. She described Wednesday’s educational session as ​“very eye-opening”

After having her first mammogram in 2021 and spotting dense tissue on the right side of her breast, Edwards has been more aware of her breast health and has discarded old habits such as sleeping with bras.

“Ever since then, I’ve been more open and informing myself on breast cancer because it is serious and it’s something that does impact African-American women,” she said. ​“This was amazing to hear these stories and to know that there is a group of women who have been through the journey and support each other.”