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. 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.

In today’s episode, we’re calling ALL listeners – young and old – to have conversations with trusted health professionals about their risk of cancer. While breast cancer is most common in older women, today’s guests remind us that young women get breast cancer, too. And knowing if you have a genetic predisposition to breast cancer could save your life. Dani Alderman is 30 years old and a 1-year survivor of Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Her maternal grandmother had breast cancer at a young age, so Dani is proactive about her health and gets screened every 6 months. Her mom has not had breast cancer and doesn’t carry a genetic link to breast cancer. But Dani didn’t know that a history of ovarian cancer on her dad’s side of the family could make her at greater risk of breast cancer. Kasey Lipinski is 38 years old and living with metastatic breast cancer. Prostate cancer has affected her father and grandfather, but nobody in her family has had breast cancer. Kasey didn’t know that a prevalence of prostate cancer on her paternal side was a warning sign that she might be at risk of breast cancer.