The Anniston Star

October 20, 2019 Photos by Cameron Christopher ‘PINK QUEENS’ Local breast cancer survivors celebrate with a joyous photo shoot

BY LISA DAVIS This was life-changing — for the better.” [email protected] We’re queens. We’ve made it. ••• Temecha Williams was in her last Last month, three Calhoun County “ semester of nursing school when she women got together for a photo shoot We stand for all women.” was diagnosed last year. She had waited to celebrate the fact that they had all — Shandrika Christopher to go back to school. She was 42, had survived breast cancer. a family and was working as a nurse at Shandrika Christopher, 38, has been RMC. cancer-free for six years. Temecha old when she found a lump in her breast preventive double mastectomy as well For two weeks, she had been Williams, 43, has been cancer-free for during a monthly self-exam six years as surgery to remove her ovaries and noticing a lump under her arm. She eight months. Jackie Judkins, 48, had ago. She thought maybe it was a cyst. fallopian tubes. thought it was just a swollen lymph her last chemo treatment in September. She prayed it was anything but cancer. “They’re just boobs,” she said. “I’d node. One Friday morning, as she was The photo shoot was Christopher’s But it was cancer. “My whole world rather be here and cancer-free.” finishing a 12-hour shift, she decided to idea. She made a list of props to round changed,” she said. “I had kids, family She also underwent chemotherapy head to the employee health clinic and up: pink glitter, pink sparkles, pink … I just got tunnel vision. I didn’t want and radiation treatment. get it checked out before the weekend. boxing gloves (“because we all fought to eat. I didn’t want to talk. I hoped if When she first got her diagnosis, She was already scheduled to have through this”), a pink crown and a pink I went to sleep, it would not be there she didn’t tell anyone outside her her annual mammogram the next week. throne. “We’re queens. We’ve made it. when I woke up.” immediate support network. “I didn’t Last year’s mammogram had been We stand for all women,” Christopher And then one day, she just checked want a pity party,” she said. clear. She had no family history of breast said. her attitude. “I said, ‘Stop crying, but on But then in 2015 Regional Medical cancer. The photo shoot was just for fun, just your big-girl panties and go forth. Don’t Center called and asked if she would The lump under her arm was indeed for them, but the photos quickly went waste your time not living.’” share her story for the hospital’s “Right a swollen lymph node. But the nurse viral on social media, appearing on She had a DNA test done and tested Care, Right Here” campaign. She ended at the employee health center also felt news reports in Montgomery, Atlanta positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation. up with her face on a billboard. “This is something suspicious nearby in her and Miami. “It’s bigger than us now,” BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations can raise not what I envisioned,” she said. “But breast. Williams went immediately Christopher said. “It’s about awareness. a person’s risk of developing breast God had another plan.” for a mammogram, followed by an It’s about life.” cancer up to 72 percent, as well as Christopher has been cancer-free ultrasound, followed by a biopsy. Most of all, it’s about “bringing joy raise the risk of ovarian, pancreatic or for six years. Her son is now 22, and her She had gotten off work at 7 a.m. that out of a dark situation.” prostate cancers. daughter is 8. “At this point, it’s all about morning. It was now 1 p.m. She had ••• Even though her cancer had not living,” she said. “Before, I was really just Shandrika Christopher was 32 years spread, Christopher opted to have a existing in the world. Now I’m living. Please see QUEENS | Page 4 Plant-based diet may be key component in treating breast cancer, UAB study says

BY KATHERINE STEPHEN can change human gene expressions in research how scientists can efficiently Consolidated Publishing fatal diseases, including breast cancer. neutralize mechanisms that lead to and All breast cancers are either estrogen worsen ER-negative cancers. Up until Researchers at the University of receptor-positive or estrogen recep- this time, conventional cancer preven- Alabama at Birmingham have found a tor-negative. The tumors in estrogen tion has focused primarily on single dietary combination that transforms the receptor, or ER, negative breast cancer chemopreventive compounds. most lethal of all breast cancers into a are much less likely to respond to hor- “One reason many in the field shy highly treatable breast cancer. mone therapy than are tumors that are away from combining two or more Specifically, scientists involved in the ER-positive, which means that ER-neg- compounds at a time for treatment Scientific Reports study say a particular ative breast cancers are typically very research is the fear of adverse plant-based diet may be the key. aggressive. effects and potential inter- Trygve Tollefsbol, Ph.D., D.O., profes- “Unfortunately, there are few options actions that are unknown,” sor of biology in the College of Arts and for women who develop ER-negative Tollefsbol said. “To overcome Sciences and senior scientist with the breast cancer,” Tollefsbol said. “Because that concern, we chose com- Comprehensive Cancer Center as well of the poor prognosis this type of cancer pounds that we felt confident as Yuanyuan Li, M.D., Ph.D., a research carries, new advances in prevention and would interact well together, assistant professor of biology, use epi- treatment for ER-negative breast cancer because they have similar favorable genetics — the study of biological mech- have particular significance.” biological effects but still have different anisms that will switch genes on and off With that in mind, Tollefsbol and — as a mechanism to identify ways we fellow researchers set out to further Please see UAB | Page 5

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Submitted photo Calhoun County gets its own pink fire truck

BY LISA DAVIS but you need to get your own chapter.’ Jacksonville, Fla. personal or home visits. It was recently [email protected] He put me in touch with Dave Graybill Now based in Calhoun County, scheduled for a visit with an 83-year- — the founder of Pink Heals in Arizona. the truck can travel as far as Auburn, old woman in Oxford before a chemo Calhoun County and East Alabama After talking with Graybill, he said, ‘I see Montgomery and Pell City. treatment. now have their own pink fire truck, you’re sincere, so I’m going to give you a For now, however, the fire-engine-pink The pink truck is available to support thanks to B.R. Wilson, chairman of the chapter.’” truck has been making appearances close those suffering from any life-threatening east Alabama chapter of Pink Heals and And so this spring, Pink Heals Eastern to home, including this month’s Fast Feet disease, not just breast cancer. Wilson said the assistant fire chief of the Quad Cities Alabama bought its own pink fire truck. Breast Cancer 5K at the Anniston Aquatic he is starting to reach out to Clay County, Volunteer Fire Department. “I love helping. If I can do something to Center. Talladega and Heflin to let them know the For the past four years, Wilson lift somebody up, make them smile, that’s “People can sign our truck, have pink truck is available to visit those areas. had been working with the central what I like doing,” Wilson said. pictures made with it,” Wilson said. “We You can follow the adventures of the Alabama chapter of Pink Heals outside “Ours is a real pretty truck. It’s got two talk to them, try to lift them up.” pink truck on the Pink Heals Eastern Birmingham, arranging for that chapter big ol’ pink bows on the front of it,” he said. The pink truck was scheduled to Alabama Facebook page. To book an to brings its pink fire truck to Calhoun When people see the pink truck coming appear at the Venecia’s Foundation appearance by the truck, call B.R. Wilson County to help raise awareness of breast down the road, they’ll wave and take 5K run in Piedmont, but Wilson got an at 256-310-0252. cancer and collect money for local pictures. emergency call about a house fire and charities. The truck was purchased from the had to respond to it instead. (He took the Lisa Davis is Features Editor of The “One day, the guy from over there said, national Pink Heals organization. It was regular fire truck to the house fire.) Anniston Star. Contact her at 256-235-3555 ‘B.R., I don’t mind coming over there, previously a touring truck stationed in The pink truck can also be booked for or [email protected]. Piedmont charity aims to f lush cancer What started as an inside joke and they agree.” chemotherapy, including comforts Foundation, said the organization between Venecia Butler and her friends Today, the largest fundraiser for such as blankets, pillows, a journal and continues to run in honor of Butler. became a rallying cry and the name of a Venecia’s Foundation is the annual 5K crossword puzzle book. The bags also “We continued the foundation in her fundraiser. “Crap Run” in downtown Piedmont. contain a large bottle of Lubriderm honor and memory because it was so “Cancer is crap,” said Randa Carroll, The nonprofit foundation was set up by lotion — a specific request of Butler, important to her.” the younger sister of the late Butler, who Butler and family in 2013. who preferred the lotion over off-brand For more information on Venecia’s died in 2015 after her fourth bout with Venecia’s Foundation packs bags alternatives. Foundation, visit veneciasfoundation. cancer. “The ones that get it, know it, for cancer patients undergoing Carroll, the president of Venecia’s org.

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BY DERRICK BRYSON TAYLOR The New York Times Mathew Knowles, the father and former manager of Beyoncé and Sol- ange, revealed recently that he received treatment for breast cancer this year, becoming one of the rare men to face the disease. Knowles, 67, a music executive who teaches sports events and entertain- ment marketing at Prairie View A&M University in Texas, spoke with ABC’s “Good Morning America” and The New York Times about his experience. About 245,000 women in the United States learn they have breast cancer each year, compared with about 2,200 men, according to the Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention. The dis- ease kills about 41,000 women and 460 men in the country each year. Knowles first noticed something was wrong in July, when drops of blood kept showing up on his shirts, he told The Times. “Imagine a piece of white paper and you took a red pen and just put a dot,” he said. “That’s what it looked like in my T-shirt.” Knowles watched the pattern for three days and began to question if it was his medication or his workout regimen that was causing the blood to appear. Then Gena Avery Knowles, his wife of six years, also noticed blood on their David Swanson/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS bedsheets, he said. Beyonce’s father, Mathew Knowles, has revealed that he has hereditary breast cancer. “So, I squeezed my nipple and sure enough, a little discharge came out, bloody discharge,” he said. “I immedi- can increase the risk of breast cancer, ately called my doctor.” Dr. Alice Police, a regional director of Family history in male Knowles’ doctor performed a blood breast surgery for the Northwell Health smear test, which came up inconclu- Cancer Institute, said. When the BRCA2 “ sive, he said. A mammogram then gene has a mutation in men, she said, breast cancer is really, showed that he had stage 1A breast they are at a higher risk of prostate can- cancer. He had a mastectomy that same cer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer extremely important.” month, July, and said his recovery was and melanoma. “fairly easy.” Knowles said that he and his wife, — Mathew Knowles “They also took out three lymph Gena, each had several family members nodes” to see if the cancer had spread in who had died from breast cancer. his body, he said. “It had not.” “Family history in male breast can- but the mortality rate is higher for black as it is for black men. Doctors conducted a test that cer is really, extremely important,” women because the disease is more Police said that some men don’t revealed he had a BRCA2 gene muta- Police said. “It’s probably more import- likely to be caught at a later stage, she realize they have breast tissue and tion, which increases certain cancer ant than it is in female breast cancer said. Black men with breast cancer also should be examined if they experience risks, Knowles said, noting that he had because male breast cancer is so rare.” tend to have a worse prognosis, accord- symptoms. “A lot of men are just embar- urged both of his daughters to have the She treats two to four cases of male ing to the American Cancer Society. rassed to walk into a breast center same test done. Knowles was previously breast cancer each year and said that Black women are more likely to where everything is pink and it’s filled married to their mother, Tina Knowles warning signs could include a lump in have an aggressive, less treatable type with women,” she said. “They feel like Lawson, for 33 years before they sepa- the breast, a bloody nipple discharge or of breast cancer called triple nega- somehow it makes them less of a man rated in 2009. The divorce was finalized any changes in the nipple. tive breast cancer. And they lag white or less masculine to walk into a center in 2011. Knowles plans to undergo a second women in diagnosis of estrogen-recep- and get checked out.” “My two daughters have an mastectomy in January to reduce his tor positive disease, the most treatable Knowles, who also urged men to get increased chance in having breast can- risk and will have mammograms every form of breast cancer. checked, echoed that sentiment and cer,” he said. “They have an increased six months, he said. One in 833 men are at risk of getting suggested that “chest cancer” might be chance of ovarian cancer. And it goes Racial disparities in breast cancer breast cancer in their lifetime, accord- a more apt term than “breast cancer” down to grandkids.” also exist, but most of the data is on ing to the group. The disease is nearly for men who are uncomfortable. Everyone has the BRCA1 and cases involving women, Police said. 100 times as common among white “Make it easy,” he said. “That’s the BRCA2 genes, which work as tumor Rates of breast cancer among black women as it is for white men, and 70 barrier for men. They just can’t get past suppressors, but mutations of them and white women are about the same, times as common among black women that word.” Page 4 Sunday, October 20, 2019 BREAST CANCER AWARENESS The Anniston Star

Photos by Cameron Christopher From left, Temecha Williams, Shandrika Christopher and Jackie Judkins. QUEENS it would also turn out to be nothing. But this time it was Stage 2 invasive BLACK WOMEN AND Continued from Page 1 ductal carcinoma. When she was diagnosed, she BREAST CANCER been looking forward to the weekend thought, “OK, God, here I am. I’m The following facts come from with her family. Instead, she called yours. It’s your will. I can’t change it.” the American Cancer Society and her husband, her mom and her sister She opted for a double Sisters Network, a national African to come to the hospital. “I was by mastectomy. “I was trying to avoid American breast cancer survivorship myself, boo-hooing. I couldn’t stop chemo, so I said, ‘Just cut my babies organization: crying,” she said. off. I’m good with me.’” When she was officially diagnosed, Judkins wound up doing 12 weeks • Breast cancer is the most her doctor told her, “It’s cancer, but of chemo anyway. Her last treatment commonly diagnosed cancer in black you’re going to be fine. I know you’re was in September. women. scared, but you’re going to be fine.” The hair loss that accompanied • Breast cancer deaths are That was Sept. 13, 2018. Her chemo was tough on all three women. second only to lung cancer deaths nursing school instructors said she “I was loving my big afro,” Judkins among black women. could stop school and start back up said. When her hair started falling • An estimated 33,840 new cases in January. Instead, she told them she out, “I cried big alligator tears. Then are expected to be diagnosed in 2019. God said to me, ‘It’s just hair.’ I started would continue “as long as I can hold • An estimated 6,540 deaths from my head up.” laughing, and I felt the peace of God. I thought, ‘I love wearing wraps. I’m breast cancer are expected to occur On Sept. 26, she had a chemo port among black women in 2019. put in. wearing a wrap to church on Sunday.’” During her treatment, she never • Breast cancer deaths among On Sept. 27, she did eight hours of black women have declined since clinicals in Birmingham. missed a day of work at Anniston 1991 due to improved early detection On Oct. 3, she started chemo. Army Depot. On Dec. 18, she graduated with her “There are a lot of females out and treatment, yet black women are class. there scared to get checked because 42 percent more likely to die of breast Earlier this year, she had a double they can’t take off work, or because cancer than white women. mastectomy. “They said I could just they’ve heard stories about chemo. • While 92 percent of black women do a lumpectomy, but I said no,” That makes me so angry,” Judkins agree breast health is important, only she said. She is planning to have a said. 25 percent have recently discussed preventive hysterectomy later this “You may hear a story about breast health with their family, friends year. somebody’s bad chemo, but that’s not or colleagues. Only 17 percent have “I lost all my girl parts, but I’m still necessarily YOUR story. Make your taken steps to understand their risk here,” Williams said. “I just wanted own story.” for breast cancer. this disease gone — for my three kids.” ••• • Black women are less likely to Williams’ son Tremon Smith, 23, While all three women were going undergo DNA testing for genetic was drafted by the NFL last year and is through cancer treatment, they all mutations, even though the rate of now with the Green Bay Packers. She found themselves with extra burdens. BRCA mutations is higher among also has a 15-year-old daughter and Williams was diagnosed a few days black women than for white women. an 11-year-old son. before her son was scheduled to play • Black women are often at a more “I did the ‘why me?’ I thought his first NFL game. Judkins’ brother advanced stage upon detection. everything was going good in my life. had a massive stroke, and she took • Black women may not have I’d gone back to college. My son was him in to care for him. One month access to health care or health doing well. Then BAM!,” she said. after Christopher was diagnosed, her insurance so may have longer “This really brought me out of my mother passed away. intervals between mammograms. shell. I was always the one taking care “You have to find your strength,” • Because they may not have of people.” Christopher said. “You have to find insurance, black women may not ••• your will to live. God will bring you follow up on abnormal mammogram Jackie Judkins, 48, had always through it.” results because they can’t afford the had lumpy breasts, due to fibrocystic Above all: “Get your diagnostic testing. breast disease, a benign condition. mammograms. Do your self-checks. • Black women have twice the When she was 18, she’d felt a lump. And if you get that diagnosis, look at odds of getting Triple Negative Breast It was biopsied. It was nothing. In us. It’s not the end.” Cancer, an aggressive kind of breast 2015, she’d felt another lump. It was cancer with a high mortality rate. biopsied. It was nothing. Lisa Davis is Features Editor of The This year, when she felt yet another Anniston Star. Contact her at 256-235- lump in her right breast, she assumed 3555 or [email protected]. Photos by Cameron Christopher

We believe in a cure, and in the human spirit’s ability to overcome great adversity. Until the day comes when we are free from the threat Pink. of breast cancer, education and awareness are of the utmost importance. Early detection saves lives. It’s our Join us as we fight to build a world with more favorite color. birthdays, for our generation and for the future.

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The researchers found that a UAB combination of dietary plant-derived AnnistonStar.com Continued from Page 1 compounds consisting of sulfora- phane from cruciferous vegetables mechanisms for carrying out these such as broccoli sprouts, along with effects that would not interfere with polyphenols from green tea, is suc- one another.” cessful in preventing and treating Tollefsbol and his team identified ER-negative breast cancer in mice two compounds in common foods that are genetically programed to that are known to have success in develop ER-negative breast cancer at cancer prevention and that could high rates. potentially be combined to success- Further investigation revealed fully “turn on” the ER gene in ER-neg- that the mechanism for the efficacy ative breast cancer so that the cancer of these two dietary compounds could be treated with estrogen recep- involved epigenetic changes induced tor inhibitors such as tamoxifen. in the ER gene regulatory region. “One way we can use epigenetics With the combined dietary treat- as a powerful tool to fight cancer is ment the researchers administered, through compounds found in our the tumors in the mice were convert- everyday diet,” Tollefsbol said. “Veg- ed from ER-negative to ER-positive etables, for example, are filled with cancers. This rendered the breast these types of compounds. Your cancer easily treatable with tamoxi- mother always told you to eat your fen, an estrogen receptor inhibitor. vegetables, and science now tells us “The results of this research pro- she was right.” vide a novel approach to preventing Another compound found in and treating ER-negative breast can- green tea has been shown to stimu- cer, which currently takes hundreds late epigenetic changes in cancerous of thousands of lives worldwide,” said genes, according to prior studies from Li. “The next step would be to move Tollefsbol’s lab. this to clinical trial, and to eventual- These compounds, used in the ly be able to provide more effective right way, can help modulate gene treatment options for women either expression aberrations that are con- predisposed to or afflicted with this tributing to the disease. deadly disease.”

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