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Positivity and community support vibrated through the chilly morning air during the 14th Annual SistaStrut Breast Cancer Walk and Parade on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. More than 6,000 people participated in the morning’s events, and many walked the route from 8th and 15th streets to Chestnut Ave. downtown in support of breast cancer patients, survivors, families, and advocates.
IHeart radio has been a sponsor of SistaStrut since its creation, the station’s BJ The DJ supports it enthusiastically because of its importance to the community – and breast cancer’s impact on him.
“The main thing is to bring awareness of how breast cancer impacts the African American community,” he said.
“We want to make sure people are doing self-examinations and getting mammograms. We want people to get checked out early because early detection is key.”
He added that studies are showing breast cancer cases are rising in young women in their 20s and 30s.
“We also want to let survivors know that they are not alone, and let families know that people are working to find a cure and bring that death rate down.”
While it is a less common for men to have breast cancer, it does occur. The disc jockey felt a lump in his breast area several years ago and had a mammogram. He would undergo a lumpectomy, which further drives his support for the event.
SistaStrut teamed with Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University to provide screenings and breast cancer information throughout the day.
Female breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in the world, according to a 2020 Global Cancer Statistics report, and among Black women it has surpassed lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death.
In the U.S., breast cancer is the most common cancer in women except for skin cancers. More than 300,590 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2023. In Missouri, an estimated 5,700 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed.
An estimated 290,560 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, including 2,710 men. While there is positive news in the fight against breast cancer, it has all but missed Black women with the disease.
The death rate from breast cancer dropped by 42% from 1989 to 2019. Early detection, mammography screening, and advances in treatment played a role.
However, Black women are 41% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women overall and are twice as likely to die if they are younger than age 50. There were 6,800 Black women’s breast cancer deaths in 2022, according to the American Cancer Society.
Making Strides event Oct. 21
Black patients and family members will be among the hundreds of St. Louisans who will participate in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Union Station downtown.
“Over the past two decades, MSABC walks have collectively grown into the nation’s largest and most impactful breast cancer movement – providing a supportive community for courageous breast cancer survivors and metastatic breast cancer thrivers, caregivers, and families alike,” Amy Haynes, ACS North Region marketing director, stated in a release.
“In Missouri alone, there are an estimated 5,700 new cases of breast cancer diagnoses and 810 estimated deaths from breast cancer in 2023.”
A reason that Black women have a higher breast cancer mortality rate is because they are less likely to be screened for the disease.
Research shows that uninsured and underinsured individuals are less likely to get screened for cancer and are more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage.
The ACS has not backed away from the national – and local – Medicaid debate in its effort to expand access to quality, affordable health insurance coverage.
“A top priority for the ACS Cancer Action Network [ACS CAN] is expanding access to care through Medicaid, especially in the 11 states that have not yet expanded,” said Haynes.
Many Americans rely on Medicaid for health care, and its expansion has been linked to increased screening rates across cancers.
A 2021 ACS study found that breast cancer patients living in states with the lowest income eligibility for Medicaid had a 31% greater mortality risk than patients in states that had expanded Medicaid programs to cover more people.
In 2022, ACS CAN worked and lobbied during the crafting of the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure that expanded and extended tax credits to purchase health care plans were included.
“Passage of this bill [in August 2022] marks one of the most significant extensions of affordable health coverage to millions of Americans, including cancer patients, survivors, and their families, in more than a decade,” according to Haynes.
ACS CAN also protects existing funding and advocates for increased state and federal funding for effective cancer control efforts like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP).
The program that provides community- based breast and cervical cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment to lower-income, under- and uninsured women, is a high priority for ACS CAN each year.
Ensuring adequate funding for the NBCCEDP will preserve a critical safety net for those who continue to lack access to lifesaving screening and diagnostic and treatment services for breast and cervical cancers. The NBCCEDP has provided over 15.64 million screening exams to more than 6 million eligible people since 1991 but, due in part to funding challenges, cannot service all eligible individuals.
In 2022, ACS CAN successfully advocated to increase or protect funding for breast and cervical cancer early detection programs in 40 states and the federal government.
The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in St. Louis is sponsored by Heubel Shaw Material Handling, Inc., and “it is a celebration of courage and hope, and a movement that unites communities to end breast cancer as we know it, for everyone.”
Over the past three decades, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer’ walks have become the nation’s largest and most impactful breast cancer movement.
The walks provide a supportive community for survivors, caregivers, and families. The events also fund lifesaving breast cancer research and the ACS commitment to advancing health equity through programs and services.
Registration for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk is at 8 a.m. Saturday, October 21, 2023, at Union Station, 1820 Market Street, downtown. The Walk begins at 9 a.m.
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