“Everybody has a story and every story’s unique,” she said. “Everybody discovers their cancer in a different way.”
Whether it’s during an annual checkup, a screening event or a medical treatment for something else, there is a similar emotional response, not only by those being diagnosed, but those close to them.
“I love to be a friend,” Young said, and years ago “I had a friend who had cancer, and I didn’t handle it well. I couldn’t even go to see her.”
“I was young then, and I didn’t know a lot about cancer, but I just kept realizing it was hitting more people I know.”
So, she got involved and learned, first through the American Cancer Society’s “Look Good, Feel Better” program, which provided wigs and cosmetics for women undergoing treatment.
The rarity of women of color taking advantages of those programs led Young — with Cancer Society’s support — to found Sisters United and add a fashion show.
“We sold out in three days,” she said.
Over years, that decision has drawn more people to the organization, often through personal contacts.
“Every year when we’re getting models together, I run into minorities that have never heard of us,” she said. But those who come often bring along with their families, she said “and they’re part of it.”
While admission for the show has risen from the original $5 to the current $55, she said, there is a reason: Through a relationship with the Mercy Health Springfield Cancer Center, the Sisters provide gasoline money and cover other daily expenses for patients overtaxed by the costs of care and loss of work.
And when the Cancer Center staff mentioned a patient in danger at risk of foreclosure while in between short- and long-term disability, Sisters was able to help with stop-gap payments. That woman will also be in this year’s style show.
Last year, Sisters also bought the Center new infusion chairs used by all patients during chemotherapy and this year will be supplying an ice machine and special IV poles.
While the organization is happy the Center recognizes its gifts with plaques, which continue to spread the word, members are more pleased the plaques are there for another reason.
In a time when there is a movement in the government against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Young said minorities being treated for cancer may see the Sisters’ name and sense they are welcomed and belong at a time when they’re feeling most vulnerable.
Oncologist urges people to guard one another’s lives
At the Sarcoma Clinic of the James Cancer Center and Solove Research Center in Columbus, Dr. Edmund Folefac is at the top of his profession, not only treating patients for melanoma and lung, prostate and kidney cancers but conducting clinical trials, bringing new drugs to the market and teaching the oncologists and hematologists of the future.
While all that sounds and is impressive, the man who will address this year’s Sisters for Prevention cancer awareness event said he often feels like the lifeguard of a swimming pool at the bottom of a waterfall who’s constantly rescuing people falling from above and wishing he could go upstream and keep them out of the water.
“We are able to do incredibly amazing things in science, developing treatments that are more like science fiction,” Folefac said. “But the best way to defeat a disease is not to have it in the first place.”
“These are not things that are necessarily addressed by the doctors,” he added. “These are addressed by community people and community leaders” like Sisters United.
People who “look like you, talk like you, feel like you” engender “a certain level of trust” that can encourage others to seek help, get screenings and “alter the outcomes” of their lives.
He also said for those interested in intervening on their own behalf – and their families -- the long-term advice is clear.
“Our biggest disease-causing agent is lifestyle in America,” and the risks involve the foods we eat, the exercise we get or don’t get, and how close we are able to stay to our ideal body weights.
Regular screenings are the next best alternative so that cancer can be caught and treated before it is too late.
Doing those two things he said, “can cut the disease rate by half,” slash the healthcare budget, save lives and lessen suffering – and make the jobs of lifeguards like him much easier.
HOW TO GO
What: Sisters United Annual Cancer Awareness Luncheon and Style Show
When $11:30 a.m. May 10
Where: Arts & Crafts Building, Clark County Fairgrounds
Admission: $55 a person/ $440 a table
Tickets: Young’s Hair, 937 324-4301, 1928 E. High St.