Women start groups to support other black women with cancer

After being diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at the age of 38, Tia Tomlin looked for another woman like her. She tried support groups, but she was often the youngest or one of the few black women to attend. At that time, she began to think about what she could do.

“Many of us in Atlanta don’t come from here, so we don’t have these huge support circles,” Tomlin, now 45, said today. “God just put it in my heart.” You are a bridge. You are the solution to that problem, the gap. “And I have a sister relationship called” My Chest Year Ahead. ” I started. “

The group boasts nearly 600 women in the Atlanta metropolitan area and provides black women with resources and support during cancer treatment. Tomlin also recently participated in the Uncovering TNBC campaign, a Merck awareness campaign featuring the experience of three women with triple-negative breast cancer.

“Due to the lack of support I saw, I kept it in mind to get started. Even with the support services, the holes were really there,” she said. “I said,’This is not good, so I have to be part of the solution. People are already fighting physically and emotionally, dealing with their spiritual challenges and loneliness. You have to feel it and do it. It doesn’t help us get better results. “

After learning about Self-breast examination In the first grade of middle school, Tomlin performed them on a regular basis. In 2015, she found a lump while taking a shower.

“I took my breath away,” Tomlin said. “I quickly learned that it was breast cancer.”

She was particularly surprised when she examined her breasts two weeks ago and felt nothing. So Tomlin called her OB-GYN and was worried that what she had was growing rapidly.After undergoing a mammogram, ultrasonography and biopsy, she herself Triple negative breast cancer, An aggressive form of cancer.

“(Remember) think,’Am I going to live? Am I going to survive this,” she said. “You have these mountains and valleys throughout your journey.”

When Tomlin was growing up, her married aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. But no one discussed it. Tomlin felt isolated after the diagnosis and turned to the support group. But she didn’t always get what she needed.

“Young, single, black I asked a lot of questions, and I really wanted to understand Triple negative breast cancer“I was a 38-year-old black woman who had questions about giving birth, the difference in cancer diagnosis between black and white women, treatment, etc. It was really emotionally difficult. “

When she met a young black woman during treatment, she often chatted with them.

“I saw black women and young black women being treated, but I didn’t see them in the support group I wanted to see them,” Tomlin said. “I started connecting with them at the infusion center. We sat next to each other, asking questions and comparing notes.”

That experience encouraged Tomlin to start my chest year first. She knew there was a great need for support and education. White and black women are diagnosed with breast cancer at the same rate, but black women are more likely to die of breast cancer.by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Breast cancer deaths are 41% higher in black women than in white women.

“Often we suffer in silence. We don’t talk to anyone. We don’t share our story with anyone,” she said. “Don’t isolate yourself when you’re diagnosed, because if you isolate yourself, you won’t even know if you’re receiving standard of care.”

She met, for example, a black woman who did not know she could enroll in a clinical trial for treatment or was not offered aggressive treatment. 2021 study JAMA Oncology Black women with triple-negative breast cancer were found to be more likely to die because they did not undergo surgery or chemotherapy as often as other women. Tomlin has discovered that talking and sharing information can be transformative for many.

“If (the doctor) doesn’t provide you with what you need, they don’t make extra efforts, they don’t discuss genetic testing with you, or they don’t give you a choice-you. You don’t have as many options (as other patients), “explained Tomlin. “This is why I tell women that you have to connect, learn and understand someone. I just experienced it myself and didn’t know I had a choice.”

Tomlin’s cancer recurred in 2019. She had surgery to remove the cancerous lymph nodes and has had no cancer since. This time she opposed radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and her doctor was surprised that the surgery-only approach worked very well.

“I did a lot of PET scans, but nothing,” she said.

She also launched the non-profit organization My Style Matters. It “focuses on cancer prevention education and illness education combined with support services.” People with cancer can deliver five weeks of fresh produce to their homes. In addition, they can participate in educational programs on lifestyle changes that reduce the risk of cancer and how to perform self-tests for early detection of cancer. Tomlin is well aware that early detection can have a significant impact on someone’s life.

“I wasn’t old enough to get (mammogram),” she said. So if you didn’t learn what you learned in the first year of middle school, you wouldn’t be here today or you would have been diagnosed at a later stage. “

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