BDO: What role did your support system or your sisterhood play in your healing process?
Karen: When I was diagnosed, I wanted to join a national organization because I felt as though there was more power in numbers and information sharing across the country would be a powerful tool. I wanted to be a part of a movement of survivors because that’s what I needed. I feel as though Sisters Network is the tool that’s used within our community to make women knowledgeable about where they’re going and give them the support but I was fortunate enough to have my husband, my daughter and friend to help me initially. I needed much more. I needed that sisterhood.
BDO: Do you see more organizations promoting sisterhood now?
Karen: I see local groups still forming, but there is no other national organization. In the future I’d like to see the individual groups that are forming in the different cities to come together collectively under a Sisters Network banner or under another banner because there is power in numbers. We’ll never be able to fight a good fight for our community without having the power of numbers. So I see collaboration between the different groups in the different communities coming together.
BDO: What are some of the success stories of Sisters Network?
Karen: We are able to impact young people which is something I’ve always wanted to do. We just started our Teens for Pink, and we’re starting to impact the lives of young girls between the ages of 12 and 16 with a breast health message that breast cancer is not a death sentence. We’re replacing fear with hope and information. They’re teen ambassadors who go back to their families and talk to their mothers, their grandmothers, their sisters and explain what breast health is about, what mammograms can do and they share this information. It gives them the power of bringing something impactful for their own families and it also gives them an opportunity to let their mothers, aunts and grandmothers to know that Sisters Network provides free mammograms and ultrasounds so it saves lives.