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From Our Guest Contributor & our dearest friend, Joleen Eeson Ruffin:

Joleen after surgery & chemo

One sunny morning in April 2008 I received the call from my doctor that the lump I felt in my left breast was BREAST CANCER. I was 32 years old with 3 small children at home and my first thought was, “I’m going to die, who’s going to take care of my babies!”

Growing up in Zimbabwe, the disease you feared the most was not cancer, it was AIDS. Having successfully navigated a pretty wild youth, I moved to the United States, got married, and settled into middle class suburban life in California. With no family history of breast cancer, I was shocked at my diagnosis. But as I was to learn later, more than 85% of women diagnosed with breast cancer will be the first person in their family to get the disease.

Joleen (during treatment)

Thanks to an aggressive treatment plan of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, faith and prayer; two years later I am cancer-free.

Not so, for the many young African women who will succumb to breast cancer this year. Cancer is not Africa’s biggest problem, but like AIDS it’s another disease that is taking lives unnecessarily and too early. Unlike AIDS, cancer takes a back seat in Africa’s public health priorities even though a recent World Health Organization report estimates that by 2020, Africa will have 1 million new cases of cancer every year.

To compound the situation, there is a wall of silence and stigma that surrounds a breast cancer diagnosis in many parts of Africa. Hala Moddelmog, former president and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure once said, “A woman who gets breast cancer in Africa is afraid her husband will leave her and that she will be ostracized by society, and even lose her children if she admits she has breast cancer.”

I was shocked to learn some alarming facts about breast cancer in Africa:

• Although African women do not have a higher rate of breast cancer incidence, they have an alarmingly higher mortality rate than their counterparts in the developed world.
• African women’s tumors tend to be very aggressive with short periods of time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis.
• These tumors at diagnosis tend to be higher grade, often involving auxiliary lymph nodes and, therefore, higher stage disease with worse prognosis.
• African women are diagnosed most often between 35 and 45 years, more than fifteen years earlier than women in Europe and North America.

As African women, we face a potential increase in breast cancer rates as we adopt Western behaviors that have been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer. The high breast cancer mortality rate in Africa is partly a reflection of the fact that women don’t get treated, if at all, until late in the course of the disease.

Living in America, I was able to get the diagnosis and treatment that I needed. In Africa, there is limited or no resources available for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of this disease. This poor healthcare infrastructure leads to the needless deaths of young African women.

The critical first step is to dispel the cultural myths about breast cancer. Survivors have to talk more openly about this disease instead of keeping it a secret. Secondly, African women need to be educated about doing their own breast self exams, insist on physical exams with a clinician and receive better access to mammograms at an earlier age. Early detection is the key to effective and affordable treatment of this disease. *BE AN ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF* — don’t let a curable disease become incurable.

Joleen Eeson Ruffin was born and raised in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She currently resides in Tracy, California USA with her husband and children. She is one of the faces of the 2010 Under Armour Power in Pink “She’s A Fighter” Campaign, which is bringing awareness to and raising money for breast cancer.

You can watch her full story in the video below.

Sources: International Agency for Research on Cancer; “Breast Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa: How Does It Relate to Breast Cancer in African-American Women?” CANCER; “Researchers Say Breast Cancer In Africa May Provide Clues To The Disease In African-Americans,” Science Daily; “Study shows women of African ancestry diagnosed with more virulent form of breast cancer,” The University of Chicago Chronicle; “Sisters In Need,” Newsweek; “Hereditary vs. Familial Breast Cancer,” Johns Hopkins Medicine.

ARE YOU YOUR OWN HEALTH ADVOCATE?

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Holla back & ladies, let us know if you regularly exam your breasts (very important!)….

Muah & ♥ ya for it

So I am in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. for a couple of events! First was The Africare Bishop John T. Walker Memorial Dinner held at the Hilton Washington Hotel.

John Legend at the Africare VIP reception

Of course I was thrilled that I would be meeting and dining with Who’s Who’s of Africans in the diaspora and celebrating six-time Grammy winning singer, John Legend & his Show Me work in Africa. And what a night it was!

Just in case you are wondering, “what has John Legend done for Africa?”….check this out!

What is so inspiring about the Show Me Campaign is that, in partnership with the Millennium Promise is working with the western Tanzanian village of Mbola, to empower more than 30,000 people with sustainable solutions to end extreme poverty.

John’s organization is helping folks in the Tanzanian village of Mbola to secure safe water points, improve agricultural techniques, build local medical clinics, provide free meals for school children, prevent malaria with insecticide treated bed nets as well as provide anti-retroviral drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS.

John Legend at his dinner table

So more than 2,000 international, government and corporate leaders gather in Washington, DC, for what has become the largest annual event for Africa in the United States.

With Busila Bokolo, Executive Director of The Spain – U.S Chamber of Commerce.

At the dinner were Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson; Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Acting Administrator COO and Executive Secretary of USAID, Alonzo Fulgam; former editor-in chief of Essence Magazine, Susan Taylor; and Beninese Grammy Award-winning singer Angelique Kidjo…

John Legend with Dorothy Height

Rocking with Angelique Kidjo

Julius Coles [President of Africare], John Legend & Frank Fountain [Board Chairman of Africare]

Darius Mans, incoming President of Africare

With my Liberian peeps, super-duper Publicist, ElJay Shields [PR for designer Korto Momolu]

Kudos to John for his work in Africa!

Photo: Tony Brown & Michael James

Hi guys & dolls!

This post is in honor of Beverly Bond, Celebrity D.J. and founder of Black Girls Rock, an organization whose mission seeks “to bring about awareness and change in the way in which young women of color are being portrayed, and are portraying themselves in hip-hop culture“. So much so that Ebony Magazine named her one of “2009 Ebony Power 150-The Most Influential Blacks In America”. Not bad, considering the list also includes President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce, Shawn (Jay-Z) Carter, Will Smith…

Beverly is one of those girls you gotta know! Full of life and energy, her passion for girls of color was evident during our conversation. Of course, I had to mention & rep for my girls, African girls [smile]! So down-to-earth, she talked about the importance of showcasing the talent, voices, successes that Black  Girls have done and continue to do! So she founded the annual Black Girls Rock! Awards which celebrates exceptional women of color who have made significant strides in their careers, are inspirational and are positive role models in their communities.

Beverly with group of Black Girls Rock! participants

A former Wilhelmina model turned D.J.,  Beverly has rocked the turn-tables at some of the most exclusive events & parties in the world; The U.S. Open, The N.B.A. All Star Games, The American Music Awards, The 2009 Democratic convention, The ‘Obama For President’ campaign, and for celebrity clients, John Legend, Prince, Alicia Keys, Sarah Jessica Parker, Erykah Badu, Diddy, Jerry & Jessica Seinfeld, Venus Williams, Jay Z, Martha Stewart, and Michael Jordan…lovely this! [so what kinda music do you play at a Martha Stewart party?...just askin'!]

She is going to be on air this Wednesday on SABC Radio 2000 to chat with my peeps, Kenny & Bertha at 3:20 P.M. [South African time]! Y’all in South Africa tune in to hear her dish about how Black Girls Rock! I asked my super-duper Producer for the interview for our readers…yayee! So keep it locked here for the radio interview…

Of course, I have to show off the girls who rock on the other side of the “pond”… I found this gem of a documentary directed by Claudine Pommier called The Power of Art: Women’s Voices in Africa.

“… There is also an Africa that is alive and well, and is often borne by women” – Odile Sorgho-Moulinier (United Nations).

This 50-minutes, 2007 documentary explores how contemporary African women who choose to be professional artists claim their position, and deal with the stereotypes associated with being an African and a woman. The film also focuses on the role professional artists may play in addressing the challenges women are faced with on the African continent.