Screenings and self-exams key to checking breast cancer

ELIZABETH HOUSE FOUNDATION

Connie Lewis (right), a breast cancer survivor for six years, and Brandy Sims, founder of Elizabeth House Foundation.

In 2017, Connie Lewis turned 60 and life was good.

Until she found a lump in her left breast.

A month prior, Lewis was declared in perfect health at her annual medical checkup. But in July, when she did her routine self-breast exam, she felt something strange.

“I found my own lump,” Lewis said. “I went back, and he examined me again. He didn’t see anything and that’s when he sent me out to another doctor. They weren't able to find anything again because being a Black woman, my breasts are dense.”

Studies show that African American women are more likely to have dense breasts than white women, which makes it easier for tumors to be missed on a mammogram.

According to American Cancer Society, Black women are more likely than white women to die from the disease, even though they have lower incidence rates. From 2016-20, the breast cancer death rate was higher for women of color in every U.S. state except Washington.

Health experts recommend women begin screenings at age 40 and even around age 30 depending on family medical history.

Lewis was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. A month later when she went in for a biopsy, it was Stage 3. With Lewis’ mother also being diagnosed with breast cancer, she was “devastated” by the news.

“My biggest focus I was just trying to get through this whole process of the chemo,” Lewis said. “Thank God my husband was there. He went with me.

“I lost my hair but I thought I looked cute. I didn't lose any weight. I gained weight from the drugs and the steroids that they use, but I got through it.  My biggest thing I had a relationship with Christ — Jeremiah 29:11 ‘for I know the plans I have for you, Connie, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.’”

Although Lewis persevered through chemo, she was not in a good place mentally.

“After I finished my journey, I did have to go to a psychologist because I always felt like I was dying,” she said.

Lewis underwent radiation, and later had DIEP flap surgery, in which tissue was removed from her abdomen to create a new breast.

Some women who beat breast cancer miss having what they consider a vital part of their femininity. Survivors often are ashamed or afraid to consider reconstructive procedures.

“There shouldn't be really any embarrassment around it,” said Dr. Ashley Chandler, a plastic surgeon at Charlotte Plastic Surgery. “I tell people, ‘your breast is a body part, so if you lost a leg, everyone would expect you to get a prosthetic.’ This is the same thing. You're losing a piece of your body, and you are reconstructing it.”

People in remission from the disease can get implants without suffering major side effects.

“The pros are it's a short surgery,” Chandler said. You get to choose your size and the discomfort is minimal. The only time that I really hesitate to just do an implant-based reconstruction is (for) anybody that has had radiation because the tissue is damaged. Radiation makes things tighter, so that implant may sit a little higher and it may feel tighter than the side that did not have radiation.”

The Charlotte nonprofit Elizabeth House Foundation works to raise awareness for the ailment and to help underserved women of color gain access to free screenings to detect for breast cancer early.

“I find that it's so imperative that we get those early detection screens because it does save lives,” said Brandy Sims, founder of Elizabeth House Foundation.

The pandemic made it harder for women in Charlotte to schedule mammogram appointments.

“Prior to the pandemic, it was 156 women that were on a waitlist and now as of June of this year, there is 500 women,” Sims said.

The Elizabeth House Foundation is hosting a tea party fundraiser on Oct. 21 to raise awareness for the illness and provide women on the waitlist with screenings. To register for the tea party, visit elizabethousefoundation.org.

“My message to other Black women [is to] go to your doctor,” Lewis said, “and do the self-exam.”

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