my album and I called her on the phone, she wasn’t feeling so good, and so that was kind of what inspired the song. I went into the studio with all this emotion and love.”
She then imparted some advice.
“Respect, admire, love your mom. You only get one mom in the entire world. You can never, ever get another one. No matter what happens, one only comes your way, that’s a blessing.”
Although progress has been made in reducing the cancer mortality gap, African Americans continue to have the highest death rate and shortest survival of any racial or ethnic group for most cancers, according to a study released Monday by the American Cancer Society.
“[The death rate] is going downward — that’s an important thing to acknowledge,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, the society’s chief medical officer. “But we can do better.”
Deaths among blacks for all cancers combined have been decreasing since the early 1990s, translating to more than 300,000 deaths averted, the study found. Cancer death rates for the U.S. population overall fell by 22 percent since peaking in 1991, a drop largely attributed to advances in prevention and basic and clinical research, as well as policy changes such as tobacco-control legislation, workplace protections against carcinogens and insurance reimbursement for cancer screening.
Overall cancer deaths have declined more for blacks than for whites, particularly for black men, narrowing the cancer mortality gap to 24 percent higher in black males than while males in 2012, down from 47 percent higher in 1990.
No matter what cancer it was that took the life of Trina’s mom, we say “Rest well, Vernessa.”