ALEXINE CLEMENT JACKSON: Thank you very much. You know, I always call myself a professional volunteer, but I think I'm not professional enough because I don't have a PowerPoint. You're just going to have to look at me, read my lips, listen with your ears, and if there's something by chance I say that you want to remember, you probably will have to write it down yourself because I don't have any handouts. But I am so pleased to be here today. I am an 18-year breast cancer survivor. Thank you. I knew you'd clap for that, and I know that you clap because you're happy for me. But I can't take it as for anything that I really did. I can't take credit, even for finding it or doing anything about it. I knew that I was at great risk for breast cancer. My birth mother died when I was four years old of breast cancer. She was 29. And my father told me that she never said anything about anything until about six months before she died. So I've often wondered, how long did she worry about it? You know, when did she first see the lump and not do anything about it? Well, I guess I was going on the same path as I was approaching my 50th birthday and I hadn't had a mammogram.
And I, you know, thought about it, but I didn't. But I was very lucky. I discovered the lump under my arm. My husband is a surgeon who's a neurologist, and so I showed it to him. And thank goodness, he the next day went to a surgeon and made an appointment for me. Then, I wondered, you know, what would I have done if I hadn't had him to do that? Would I have waited to see if it would go away? So I can't take credit for my survivorship except for the fact that I did go through it, and I found the strength to go through it, and as we all do and thousands of women before me. But it made me realize that we do have the opportunity to save our lives by looking at the risks that we can possibly prevent. So when I was thinking about what I was going to say today, I thought about trying to organize the information that you have been listening to for the past several days into something that might be easy to remember.
Now, about 20 years ago, 15 or 20 years ago, I — because a lot of people ask me about different accessories I had and how did you put this together, you know. I thought, well, I'm going to try to develop something around fashion. So I came up with something called "STEP Wise to Fashion," with STEP being an acronym. Well, I never did anything with it. I wrote stuff out and never did anything with it. But, you know, I thought that using STEP Wise would be a really good way, a simple way of trying to help us all remember some of the information that we need to know and that we need to pass on. So I'm going to talk to you about my concept, my plan, which is called STEP Wise to reducing your cancer risk. The S is stop risky behavior. Stop risky behavior. Stop eating so much. Stop smoking at all. Stop being a couch potato. And you know, it occurred to me: is there anything that tastes as good as being healthy feels? And think about that when you are about to eat that cake. Am I too late? I think I'm too late. Is there anything that tastes as good as being healthy feels? You know, my husband is from Mississippi. He's from Jackson, Mississippi. And, you know, when we go there, the thing I am struck with is how fat so many of the women are. And we went to one of these all-you-can-eat restaurants, and I guess that's the place to go if you're fat because—I mean the obesity is so unbelievable.
And when I look at women who are struggling with that, you know, I just feel as though there may be a death wish there. I don't know what it is that is the problem, but I know that it is a problem. I have a daughter who has the problem, and we're trying to work with her on that. But it's an observation, and I think that if we can really stop the risky behavior. Take charge of your life. Take charge of your life. All of us who are minority women are good at charging charge of everybody else's life, but we have to take charge of our own lives. Turn that attention around. You know, that's the ultimate empowerment. It's the ultimate empowerment when we can take charge, when we can pay attention to our own bodies and follow our own instincts and intuitions, go regularly to appropriate healthcare providers for our checkups and our screenings. You know, there used to be in the mammogram programs, the screening programs, you would say to women, "If a picture could just save your life, wouldn't you do that?" And it's amazing that people still don't get that. It's just a picture. If a picture can save your life, go ahead and do it.
Now, whenever I talk about something or people not getting it, it gives me the opportunity to tell you one of my favorite jokes. And the ICC people know I love to tell jokes. But there was this young man who was still living at home with his family, with his parents. So every day, his mother would say, "Boy, when are you going to get married? You've been here so long. When are you going to get married?" Every day. So one day, he said, "Mama, I'm going to get married when I find a girl who has this, who has this, and who has this." So the mother looked at him, and she said, "Well, you know, I understand brains, I understand money, but arthritis?" It's a great joke to use when you want to get over the point about people not getting it. And another thing in taking charge, when a doctor says, "Don't worry; it's nothing" and you're still worried, take charge. I get a little newsletter that's called "Bottom Line," and it has, you know, things about business or investment or health tips. And this one struck me the other day. It says the four most dangerous words in modern medicine are "You are the doctor," which means that you just take whatever is said.
But you've got to recognize there are misdiagnoses, there are lab errors, there are all kinds of things where we need to take charge. So the T is take charge. E, educate yourself and educate your family about cancer risks. Know your family health history, and tell your children why it is important that they know it. Learn the signs and symptoms of cancers. Learn when to have the screening tests. Keep up with the latest cancer information the same way you do about styles and music and all the other kinds of lifestyle trends. Keep up with what's going on. And educate yourself about the additional risks of being African-American, and understand that if you are African-American, the information you need to have may be different. You know, I thought about it. We are the fine print. We're the asterisk. Yet start your colon cancer screening at age 50, but it doesn't say, "Unless you're African-American or you have a family history of cancer." And we have experienced this.
I will share with you that just this spring, we lost our oldest son to colon cancer, something that shouldn't have to happen in this day and age. But he was 42 years old when he was diagnosed. He was 44 when he died. But he didn't know if you're African-American or if you have cancer history, and because I'm so focused on the breast cancer and the daughters, I don't think about, you know, other things, too. But it's the fine print. I don't know. When I go to a Chinese restaurant and we get the fortune cookies, have any of you ever played this game where you read the fortune and you add "in bed?" It's like "You will have a long life of happiness—in bed." So try it. So when you read things about cancer and cancer statistics and things that you should do, it's almost like you need to add, "But if you're African-American, you must do something else." The P is participate. Participate. Participate in clinical trials. Recent research done at Yale and at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle shows that African-American women are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced breast tumor disease and less likely to survive the disease than White women. Further analyses need to be done, and we need to participate whenever and whenever we can. Participate in public education. Participate in activities that allow you to tell the story, give the message. Participate in advocacy. Lobby, right letters, work to change health policies that deal with access, that deal with increase of research funding. Participate in collaborations. You've heard that all of us here, the three speakers, belong to an organization called The Intercultural Cancer Council. That's where all of you, all of these groups have come together to speak with one voice about these disparities. So participate. Participate in everything. Now, the STEP Wise plan, it's easy. It's simple to remember, but not simple to do. Stop risky behaviors. Take charge. Educate yourself, and participate.
In 1998, I had the honor of speaking at the candlelight vigil on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was sort of my "I Have a Dream" speech because I talked about wanting a cure for cancer right then, that night, today, because I didn't want any more people to have to die of cancer. And little did I know then that my own child would be one of those statistics. But I still want a cure for cancer today, but I know that it has to be more than a dream and it has to be more than just a wish. But I think that if maybe we are STEP Wise, it might happen tomorrow. Thank you.