By Sym Posey | The Birmingham News
Birmingham’s Legion Field was a sea of pink this weekend as elected officials, civic leaders, breast cancer survivors, families and supporters gathered for the annual Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies (BBBB) Sistah Strut which brings awareness to the disease, while also helping raise funds to continue providing resources.
To kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month hundreds showed up to promote early detection of breast cancer especially in minority, low-income and underserved communities.
“This is a movement. It’s not about the organization. It’s about how people feel about helping each other,” said Brenda Phillips-Hong, founder and Executive Director of BBBB, and a breast cancer survivor.
According to the Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP), African American women face both disproportionate exposure to breast carcinogens and the highest risk of serious health impacts from the disease. A U.S. woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is 1 in 8. African American women have a 40 percent breast cancer mortality rate – the highest of any U.S. racial or ethnic group.
Women of color often face significant disparities in breast cancer outcomes which include diagnosis at later stages when treatment is often more complex and less effective and aggressive types of breast cancer, such as triple-negative breast cancer.
First Lady Deidra “Dee” Green is widely known for her ministry at More Than Conquerors Faith Church (MTC) in Southwest Birmingham and as a founder of VIRTUE Inc., an organization that brings a message of restoration and hope to women through community events, served as this year’s Ambassador of Hope for the 2024 Sistah Strut.
“Breast cancer is not a respecter of persons. It knows no racial divide. [It’s important] to recognize this, even if you’re young,” she said. “I have a goddaughter who’s 18 now, and the doctor found a little benign mass in her breast [when she was 15]. It just doesn’t discriminate—even if you’re 15-years-old. So, it’s just as important for a young person as it is an older woman to understand her body,” she said.
“We’re praying that we’ll see a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime, but until then, we’ll continue to push toward awareness and testing,” added Green.
For more on BBBB: Mailing Address: P.O. Box 310532. Birmingham, AL 35231 205.588.0703 brendasbrnbosbuddies@gmail.com icuhong@outlook.com.
