INDIANAPOLIS — Two local non-profits are working together to end breast cancer disparities and achieve better outcomes for black and minority women.
“Black women have a higher mortality rate; we're about 41% more likely to die from breast cancer in comparison to white women. Black women are diagnosed at earlier ages, and then also diagnosed at later stages of this disease and so if you're diagnosed at a later stage, your chances of survival are reduced, so we want to make sure that women are connected with resources, that they're connected with knowledge so that they can take action quickly if they are diagnosed,” said Lisa Hayes.
Hayes was the executive director of Reaching to End Disparities, also known as the R.E.D. Alliance. Nadia Miller is the president of Pink 4 Ever. After years of working together, it just made sense to merge into one nonprofit. That's how Pink 4 Ever Ending Disparities was born.
“It means there are resources that are available to them for people who look just like them, also individuals that have gone through the very journey that they have gone through and then providing them patient navigation and advocacy, from the seat of understanding the diagnosis,” said Miller.
Both Hayes and Miller remember the moment they were diagnosed with breast cancer.
“We will always have the scars, our families will always have been impacted by this and we will forever be survivors of a disease that interrupted our lives,” said Miller.
“My sister she passed away at 30 years old. Nita, and then two years later I was diagnosed. Today I stand as a 14-year breast cancer survivor,” said Miller.
“I am a 14-year breast cancer survivor,” said Hayes. “I have two daughters, and it's important in terms of my legacy to leave them in a safer place for black women as they say breast health and breast cancer."
For more information about PINK-4-Ever Ending Disparities click here.
