…want to wait and not be as fortunate when it comes back and it’s too late?”
Sykes, who’s constantly on a stand-up comedy tours and television shows, joked to DeGeneres that she kept her cancer diagnosis hush hush — the “Ellen” show appearance is the first time she’s discussed it publicly — because she didn’t want to become the cancer “poster child.”
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Another type of breast cancer that affects Black women like Sykes is Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
According to a study published in Cancer Medicine, researchers found that Black women had nearly a three-fold increased risk of triple negative breast cancers, which have a poor prognosis. While it is known that Black women have a higher risk of this type of breast cancer, the magnitude of the risk found in this study was impactful, given its comprehensive adjustment for breast cancer risk factors in a screened population.
What is triple-negative breast cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer is:
- estrogen-receptor-negative
- progesterone-receptor-negative
- HER2-negative
So, neither the hormones estrogen and progesterone nor the presence of too many HER2 receptors drive triple-negative disease growth. This means that triple-negative breast cancer doesn’t respond to hormonal therapy or therapies that target HER2 receptors.
About 10% to 12% of breast cancers — more than one out of every 10 — are triple-negative. Triple-negative breast cancer tends to be more aggressive than other types of breast cancer.
Triple-negative breast cancer usually is treated with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy, and possibly radiation therapy.
This information is provided by Breastcancer.org.
Donate to support free resources and programming for people affected by breast cancer: https://give.breastcancer.org/give/294499/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=clipboard&c_src2=text-link
“How many things could I have? I’m black, then lesbian,” she joked. “I can’t be the poster child for everything! At least with the LGBT issues we get a parade, we get a float, it’s a party. I was real hesitant about doing this because, I hate walking. I got a lot of walks coming up!”
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