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When Tamika Felder, a 47-year-old Black author and entrepreneur in Marlboro, Maryland, was 25 years old, she received the shock of her life: She was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
At the time, Felder was a young news producer working in Washington, D.C., and didn’t have any concerns about her health. “After not being screened for cervical cancer for a few years due to several factors, including lack of insurance, I was finally screened after obtaining health insurance through a new job. So, essentially, it was found after a routine screening,” she says. Felder was diagnosed with Stage 2A cervical cancer.
Felder was not alone as a Black woman receiving this devastating diagnosis. According to a study published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Black women are 41 percent more likely to develop cervical cancer than white women and 75 percent more likely to die from it.
Research points to various sociological factors to help explain why Black women are disproportionately affected by cervical cancer. Some include bias among healthcare providers, lack of knowledge or misinformation about the disease, and limited to no access to health insurance and quality healthcare.
According to the American Cancer Society, almost all cervical cancers are either squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma (ADC). A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that Black women have the highest mortality rate for cervical ADC, despite having the lowest incidence of this type of cervical cancer. Cervical ADC is the subtype Felder was diagnosed with.
Making Sense of Her Cervical Cancer Diagnosis
Once Felder was diagnosed, she was referred to a specialist and then a gynecologic oncologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her oncologist recommended that she have a radical hysterectomy, which meant she could not have children — her lifelong dream. Naturally, she sought a second opinion.
“I was completely shocked; I was numb. Scared and a bit in denial. My fear was that I was going to die and I wasn’t ready. I had more living to do. I feel the same now at 47,” says Felder. “The disparity of Black and Hispanic women dying from cervical cancer is unacceptable. We have the tools, yet this health inequity exists in the United States. This is all a direct result of slavery, which leads to a mistrust of the medical system. Black women should be able to be seen, heard, and be able to trust their medical providers.”
Felder explored getting in vitro fertilization in order to have children but she was denied by her insurance company because she was not married and was not actively trying to conceive. Felder came to the realization that having a radical hysterectomy would be the best and most effective treatment option.
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