Cancer researchers are looking for thousands of Black women to lend their voices and experiences to a 30-year study.
The American Cancer Society (ACS) launched its 鈥溾�� research that will study 100,000 women over 30 years.
It is the largest and longest cancer study of Black women in the U.S. ever, said Madeline Long, an ambassador with the nonprofit group.
鈥淭hat type of data doesn鈥檛 exist for us,鈥� Long told 草莓传媒. 鈥淭his is a movement of Black women talking about our health for the first time. And not in a victim way, but in a way of empowerment.鈥�
The study will track Black women between the ages 25 and 55 from diverse backgrounds and income levels who have not been diagnosed with cancer.
The goal is to better understand long-standing disparities among this group as Black women continue to have the highest death rate and the shortest survival of any racial group nationwide for most cancers.
It鈥檚 a concern Long, a minister who resides in Bowie, Maryland, knows well.
鈥淓very year when I do my mammogram, I鈥檓 always prayerful, 鈥楶lease, God, don鈥檛 let this be the year that it returns,鈥欌�� Long said. 鈥淏ecause we just don鈥檛 know.鈥�
Doctors diagnosed her, her mother and aunt with breast cancer in 2011. They each received the same discovery months apart.
At that point, Long had undergone mammogram screenings for a decade. But Long鈥檚 mother advised her to get a more detailed breast X-ray, called a diagnostic mammogram, to check for cancer.
That鈥檚 when doctors made the discovery.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 tell people that mammography saved my life, it was really my mother,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f my mother and aunt weren鈥檛 diagnosed, I probably wouldn’t have known cancer was present because they wouldn鈥檛 have seen it through [the screening exam].鈥�
Long, 60, said diagnostic mammograms, which takes additional X-ray images during the procedure, are . They commonly have denser breasts, or more breast tissue, than white women.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like trying to see a pea through a cloud,鈥� Long said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not just Black women, it鈥檚 younger women. If you have dense breasts, you need additional testing.鈥�
Women enrolled in the VOICES study will receive regular mammograms. It鈥檚 one reason why Long enrolled her 33-year-old daughter and other women in the research.
鈥淚鈥檓 encouraging others to participate for the future, so that when medical breakthroughs happen, some of them can finally include people who look like me,” she said.
Over the three-decade survey, participants will also track changes to their eating plans, exercise regimens and smoking habits.
Long said it was one of the first things she did after learning her diagnosis.
鈥淢y oncologist said to me, 鈥業 want you to lose some weight, because if you鈥檙e fat, you鈥檙e going to die anyway,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚 know that sounds harsh, but I鈥檓 glad she said that. What she was telling me really helped save my life.鈥�
Some Black women will pass on the chance to participate in the study because of medical inequalities and a historic distrust of the health care community.
Long takes a different approach.
鈥淚 am no longer a victim to the health care community by saying what they鈥檙e not doing,鈥� she told 草莓传媒. 鈥淲hat can we do to live healthier lifestyles? I want us to know that we own this. That鈥檚 the message I give to younger women.鈥�
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