Posts Tagged ‘breast cancer’
I’m always feeling up my tetas and not just because I’m mala. Breast cancer runs in my familia and I’ve already lost two tias to the disease and have one who is still fighting it.
A recently released study says that Latinas often delay seeking treatment for cancer del seno, making treatment more difficult. The reasons include lack of health insurance, fear, and just cosas de la vida that sometimes make a doctor’s visit less of a priority than say working.
I would also add a lack of cultural competency on the part of doctors working in Latino communities.
“(Latinas are) not getting more breast cancer than other women, but they’re less likely to survive as long,” said Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, a member of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s National Health Advisory Council and chairwoman of the Komen Foundation National Hispanic/Latino Advisory Council. “The reason is they’re diagnosed at a later stage of the cancer.”
Via / The Latin Americanist
A study released by the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center hits close to home.
The study showed that Latina women who prefer speaking Spanish are more likely than other ethnic groups to express regret or dissatisfaction with their breast cancer treatment, despite receiving similar treatment and reporting similar levels of involvement with their doctor in deciding the treatment plan compared to white women.
Nearly half of the women surveyed were Latina, with a quarter preferring to speak Spanish. These women were 3.5 times more likely than English-speaking Latinas to have difficulty understanding written information about breast cancer.
“Even though they received similar amounts of information as whites, Latinas who prefer speaking Spanish reported a strong desire for more information. Doctors may need to make additional effort to ensure this information is understandable and culturally appropriate for all ethnic groups to improve the decision making process for breast cancer patients,” says lead study author Sarah T. Hawley, Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School and a research investigator at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
Christina Applegate has Double Mastectomy
4:45 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Celebrities · Comments Off
19 Aug 2008
I’m not much of a fan of Christina Applegate, but I was mighty shocked to hear that she recently underwent a double mastectomy to deal with her breast cancer. Apparently she only had cancer in one breast, but because of a family history of breast cancer and genetic testing that showed she carried the cancer gene, she decided to remove both breasts. I admire that she is talking about this to the world, especially seeing as she’s in such a looks oriented profession. I hope she recovers beautifully.
Soraya, a 36 year old Latin Grammy winner from Colombia, faced breast cancer and beat it. Now she is a spokeswoman for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and she is reaching out specifically to Latinas.
The following exerpt from the Miami Herald article, “Singer a voice for breast-cancer victims”, explains why it is important to reach out specifically to the Latin community:
Dr. Sandra Franco, co-director of the Memorial Breast Cancer Center at the Memorial Cancer Institute in Hollywood and Pembroke Pines, said some patients who grew up in Latin America fear diagnosis and treatment.
“There is a feeling in these patients that breast cancer is a more deadly disease than it really is,” said Franco, who is Colombian.
Latin American countries don’t have massive breast cancer screening campaigns. Treatment, drugs and support groups are less available than in the United States, she said. The message about early detection isn’t trumpeted. In Colombia, 80 percent of the cancers diagnosed are at an advanced stage, Soraya said.
The article later quotes:
“If there were more campaigns, more media involvement, more celebrity involvement like with Soraya, it would be normal to talk about breast cancer,” Franco said. “The stigma would go away.”
Soraya has dedicated her song “Por Ser Quien Soy” as her survivor song. It can be downloaded on her website in exchange for a $1 donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Hola!
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- Mangos With Chili Presents Beloved: A Requiem for Our Dead in the Bay Area Tonite & Nov. 15th
- Vigil for Marcelo LuceroThis Evening in Patchogue, Long Island, NY
- VL At The Cine: The Fourth Kind
- Rihanna interview
- One of Marcelo Lucero’s Attackers Pleads Guilty
- Remembering Marcelo Lucero : One Year Later, The List of Hate Crimes Grows Longer
- Rihanna Speaks
- A Message To Maine
- Maine Voters Said Yes on 1 and Yes to Marriage Inequity
- New York City Wakes Up to Four More Years of Bloomberg
