Sister Study Could Help Find Cure for Breast Cancer, Help Find Why Disease Affects More Black Women, Opinion Piece Says
"One of the more disturbing stories I read was published by the Associated Press. The headline read, 'Breast cancer more deadly in black women,'" Jarvis DeBerry, a New Orleans Times-Picayune editorial writer, writes in an opinion piece.
He continues, "Simply put, black women get the disease at earlier ages than their white counterparts and when the disease is detected, it tends to be at a later stage." The disease also can "find itself a good genetic path and wreak havoc along it," which is why "researchers behind the Sister Study Breast Cancer Research project want to find out what, if anything, distinguishes women who suffer breast cancer from their sisters who" do not, DeBerry writes.
"As researchers move closer to their goal of 50,000 study participants, they are hoping that they will be able to get more" black and Hispanic women to participate in the research, DeBerry adds, concluding, "Who knows what researchers will find. ... But one hopes they find out something -- anything -- that will make both preventing breast cancer and curing it more likely" (DeBerry, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/30).