The Olive Branch of Hope Cancer Support ServicesHearing you have cancer is one of the worst things you can hear in your life. Hearing that you have Triple-Negative Breast Cancer , the most aggressive form of breast cancer, where the mortality rate is high and there are few treatment options — that took the wind out of my sails 11 years ago.
I was elated when I found an organization that supported women like me. Getting involved with The Olive Branch of Hope has been fantastic, being part of a sisterhood of black women who support each other and know how it feels to face breast cancer makes you feel less alone. Even the small things: how will my skin look during treatment? Google shows you almost exclusively white skin, this organization tries to share our knowledge big and small.
I’m lucky to be writing this piece today. I didn’t know it at the time but the rarer form of breast cancer I was facing was more likely to impact younger, Black women like me. In fact, the incidence of TNBC in Black women is twice that of White women.TNBC is a nasty form of cancer and, sadly, many lives have been lost from it. However, there is hope on the horizon.
Unfortunately, despite this progress, disparities still exist in terms of access to care, treatment and survival. Black women are less likely to obtain adequate treatment due to historical barriers to healthcare access. Breast cancer mortality is 42 per cent higher in Black women than in White women.