My Breast Cancer Journey: How Sharing My Story is Saving Black Women’s Lives

Friday April 21, 2023 (four days after my last blog post) I was diagnosed with Stage 2B Triple Negative Breast Cancer and my world was rocked. While I may not have been posting to the blog, I was sharing my journey in real time with my followers on Instagram and YouTube. After 14 rounds of chemotherapy, a surgery to clear margins and remove 7 lymph nodes, 16 radiation sessions, and 5 rounds of immunotherapy, I rang my final bell on June 21, 2024 and I shared all of this with my community and the world in real time. Last weekend I had the opportunity to be the keynote speaker at the Color Vision Creator Summit this past weekend. Many weren’t able to attend and I don’t think there is a recording of the full speech so I decided to place it here.

I just want to thank Mia Davis and Color Vision for having me here today. Mia and I have been friends for about 13 years now, and to say that she’s amazing is an understatement. Mia you are a force, the ultimate connector and you show up and show out for Black women. You create safe spaces for us, and for that I thank you. I always leave a Mia Davis production fed and filled literally and figuratively. So I just want to give Mia her flowers before I start. 

If you told younger me I would be teaching and telling stories on line and creating videos, I would believe you. But if you told me I would be 6 days shy of my 40th birthday and sharing how I beat Stage 2B Triple Negative Breast Cancer and shared my story with the world in real time… I would have told you that you’ve lost your mind. When I made the decision to share my journey in real time in such a public way, it’s not a decision I made lightly. 

As much as I have shared online over the past 16 years as a content creator, I am still very guarded and very much my business is my business. As my followers know I tell them I’m transparent-ISH. But this time I knew I couldn’t hide. I always tell people that I might look cute but my story ain’t, and how I take pride in not looking like what I’m going through. But THIS TIME I was finna look like every bit of what I was going through. I was going to lose my hair, my weight would change, I was going to have good days and bad days. While the fight and the battle was very individual and personal, I quickly realized the story didn’t belong to me. God made the decision for me that I was going to share this story, but he made it a long time ago.

While the fight and the battle was very individual and personal, I quickly realized the story didn’t belong to me.

Candice Coleman

As a little girl my family jokingly called me Jayce Hayward or Maureen Bunyan (clearly I might be aging myself) as these are two amazing and legendary Black news anchors here in DC. I always felt it was my job to disseminate information and tell you what I knew. In the 5th grade I started doing the morning announcements over the intercom system on Fridays. It was the highlight of my week. While in middle school we had a media department and our morning announcements were broadcast live each day. You guessed it, I was an anchor. In high school we moved counties and I was at a new school. I signed up for Yearbook class and thought nothing of it. Well one day students were handing assignments to the front, and I took it upon myself to copy edit everyone’s work because I was bored. When my teacher Ms. Zena Whitworth saw what I had done and she asked me why and I said because incorrect grammar and punctuation bothers me. “I’m bringing back the newspaper. The school hasn’t had one in 30 years. You’re going to be the Editor in Chief” I said you’re crazy no I’m not… I caved and I did it. Ms. Whitworth then told me “Candice there is an organization called NABJ, National Association of Black Journalists, they have a program for teens where you spend your weekends at news stations. I signed you up”. So there went my weekends at channel 7 and channel 9 where I got to pitch, write, produce, edit and anchor telling stories. 

I had to pivot in college and I changed my major to Public and Community Health. As a result required classes were anatomy & physiology 1 and 2. As well as medical terminology where I had to learn and memorize 1,000 medical terms over winter break. I interned at a healthcare market research firm where I transcribed in depth interviews with focus groups and physicians for clinical trials for drugs. I interned at HHS in the Office on Disability where I did constituent services and started going to hearings on the Hill. I learned to use my voice and the important of Black voices at the table. i sat amongst a team of white women who were trying to decide how to educate black women in underserved communities on health crises and said “why would we go to hair salons if they don’t have money they aren’t getting their hair done.” Now WE all know if we don’t do anything else, we are getting our hair and nails done. I had to speak up. 

I also worked for 2 state senators in Maryland where i researched policy and helped write testimonies to go before committees and create new legislation. 

In grad school I pivoted again and interned at a PR firm where one of my first events was working with Maimah Karmo, founder of the Tigerlily Foundation, a non profit that supports young women with breast cancer through education and advocacy. She shared her story of how she battled breast cancer before the age of 35. But you typically can’t get screenings until you’re 40. Sounds like a policy change. 

You might be wondering why all of this matters. Telling stories. Advocacy work. Public health. 

Well 2 years ago at the age of 38 I decided to up and leave Maryland and move to Houston and told almost no one, because God told me to. And when He says move I move. My contract for my job had ended so Without a job or a lot of money saved I packed my car and put it on a truck. Got a 1 way ticket with my dog and left. 2 months later during a self exam, I found a lump. Now I’m panicking as I’m without a job, uninsured and running out of money and 1300 miles away from home. I ended up getting a job and insurance and was diagnosed at the perfect place. Unbeknownst to me, Houston is the number 1 place in the country for breast cancer treatment and research. 

Once I shared my diagnosis, Mia was one of the first people to reach out to me. And what did she do? Connect me with fellow breast cancer survivor Tiara Neal, the Executive Director of Bexa Equity Alliance where they work to provide life saving early breast cancer detection for women of color and underserved women. If I had a Bexa scan, my story would be different. 

This very weekend last September, I spoke on a panel with Tigerlily Foundation as they were on a tour and stopped in Houston. A completely full circle moment. They also wanted me to teach and share with my community about clinical trials because the lack of diversity and representation in clinical trials are the primary reasons why it is not known which treatments are most effective treatments for Black women with breast cancer. I didn’t feel qualified because I didn’t participate in a clinical trial. I had been wondering, if I’m in the land of breast cancer treatment and research, why wasn’t I presented a clinical trial option? Until I met the reason I didn’t. I met Christina Mackey who beat Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer and the clinical trial she entered became the standard of care. She literally put her life on the line for science so that I can stand before you today. 

All the events of my life led up to me sharing my journey in the raw and vulnerable way that I did. But at the core, my story and my life helped me advocate not only for myself, but teach and empower my community along the way. Sharing and storytelling is so important especially when it comes to saving lives. I hope my story is a reminder that our lives are always divinely guided and every chapter of your book matters and the stories need to be told. 

Maimah’s fight was her own. But her story belongs to us. 

Tiara’s fight was her own. But her story belongs to us. 

Christina’s fight was her own. But her story belongs to us. 

The scars on my body I now wear with pride, because they tell a story that I will never stop sharing. The fight may have been mine. But the story isn’t. 

To donate to Tigerlily Foundation click here.

To donate to Bexa Equity Alliance click here.