Real Talk About Breast Cancer

[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room. Most people diagnosed with breast cancer will never have a breast cancer recurrence. However, everyone who’s had breast cancer is…

[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G. Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room. This is Real Talk, a podcast conversation where we’re digging deep into breast cancer and the realities patients and survivors…

[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G Komen, this is Real Pink, a podcast exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room. Chemotherapy or chemo is often associated with cancer treatment and hair loss. But what do you know about it? The…

Today’s guest is a mom of three young girls, a firefighter and a contestant from season 36 of “The Amazing Race”, who first found out that she had lumps in her breast from a pre-taping required physical for the show. After competing on “The Amazing Race” and returning home, 36-year-old Bizzy Smith had a long road of self-advocacy ahead of her before finally receiving the breast MRI that diagnosed her breast cancer. Bizzy is here today to help raise breast cancer awareness for younger women and to keep it real with topics like talking to her daughters about the changes in her body, still wanting to feel sexy, and how she’s been able to stay connected to her husband. Her positive spin on life has made all the difference and we are thrilled to have her here today to share her story.

How do you navigate breast cancer when you know the health care system is stacked against you? And, how, as a health care provider, can you best support marginalized people going through the experience of breast cancer? Let’s find out. In this episode, Jasmine Samuel, a TNBC survivor and Black nurse shares how her experience of suboptimal care in Jackson, Miss., encouraged her to actively seek out a better care experience from MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. We’ll also hear from Komen Scholar Dr. Mariana Chavez MacGregor, a breast medical oncologist and professor at the Breast Medical Oncology Department of MD Anderson Cancer Center who will discuss how she provides compassionate care and focuses research on improving outcomes for underserved patients.

When something feels off, it is important to pay attention. You know your body best and self-advocating means listening to your body and speaking up for it. Today’s guest had to fight to be taken seriously when she found a lump in her breast at age 26 because she was told that she was too young for breast cancer. Then at multiple other points throughout diagnosis and treatment, she had to advocate for her health by asking for scans and second opinions, which turned out to be necessary because she received an incorrect diagnosis.