Supporting Ailey II is a support for breast cancer support group

Wed, Sep 21st 2016, 01:39 PM

Sister Sister (Breast) Cancer Support Group relies on the generosity of people and corporate Bahamas to carry out its mission to offer a safe and caring environment for women (and men) whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. And then there's the mandate they've set for themselves to furnish portacaths to women who can't afford to purchase the vital medical appliance needed in the battle against an insidious disease like cancer.

To date, Sister Sister has purchased and distributed 96 portacaths to women battling breast cancer; at $500 per port that amounts to $48,000.

"Portacaths are very expensive, but first of all it's needed, because it's the instrument that is provided to help give patients the chemotherapy," said Sister Sister President Andrea Sweeting. "Without it, the medication has to be given intravenously, and veins can break down and then they have to start all over again."

The group also distributes needles to cancer patients which they purchase at $86 per dozen. Each patient needs three needles per transfusion -- one needle to flush the port to ensure it is working, the second needle for the transfusion and the third needle to flush the port again to make sure the chemotherapy is going through the needle into the patient's system.

"Every time they go for treatment they need the needles, and we realize they may have to come and ask for needles, so we provide that for them as well," she said.

Sweeting said the group is important because they are the support mechanism for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to assist them through their trials and to show them that there is life after cancer.

"Sister Sister is here to show that survivors are here looking out for them, here to help them and that we are the evidence that they too can survive," said Sweeting, a 15-year breast cancer survivor.

Having to rely on the generosity of the community to do their work, the membership at Sister Sister (Breast) Cancer Support Group also holds a prayer breakfast annually to raise funds to help themselves. This weekend, another fundraising avenue has been made available to them, through Ailey II's performance at the Atlantis Theater this weekend.

Any profits generated from the dance troupe's upcoming performances, after expenses, will be shared between Sister Sister and the National Dance School of The Bahamas.

Sweeting said the group will be appreciative for whatever it is able to receive, and is praying for sold-out performances so that not only would Sister Sister benefit, but so that Bahamians would be able to take in a dance performance at a high level.

"If we are able to buy two or three ports, if any profits are realized, we would be very grateful," she said.

Ailey II dancers will perform two shows on Saturday, September 24 at the Atlantis Theater -- a matinee at 2 p.m. at $75 per ticket and a gala performance at 8 p.m. priced at $175 VIP and $125 general admission.

"We want to make sure that all of our expenses, as well as the Ailey II organization receive the funds that they have actually asked for and it's not been a cheap venture," said Sweeting.

"It's been a very expensive venture to bring them here and to do the things that they require. Even though we're paying them, we still had to do a lot of things to ensure that their stay is as comfortable as possible. For that theater alone, there are certain things that had to happen... lighting, flooring -- just so we don't have any accidents or any problems with these dancers."

Together, the members of Sister Sister support each other in a loving, caring and spiritual environment through regular meetings, guest speakers, educational components, friendship and prayer.

The organization has no overhead expenses as the group works out of doctors' offices, but whatever donations, it receives goes right back into purchasing portacaths and needles.

Sister Sister was the brainchild of Dr. Locksley Munroe and Dr. Charles Diggiss. The support group was launched in September 2000 as a non-profit charitable group for women diagnosed with breast cancer. Nurse Charlene McPhee along with Francis Smith, Margaret Thurston and Cheryl Ingraham underpinned the group until it was able to work on its own.

Sister Sister is vital in The Bahamas, where according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data published in May 2104, breast cancer deaths in The Bahamas reached 47 or 2.37 percent of total deaths. The age adjusted death rate of 22.41 per 100,000 of population ranked The Bahamas 23rd in the world.

The group also seeks to help women with their mental and spiritual needs and they encourage survivors to continue with their medical checks and balances for life. She said it's a must.

"Annually we should have a checkup, and a mammogram if you still have a breast. And those who don't have another breast should do some sort of medical exam. We should do all of our pap smears, and whatever our doctors ask us to do, because we have to maintain a healthier body.

"If you wear glasses, you should have your eyes examined. If you find out you're hypertensive, you want to make sure you're taking the right medication and you want to be monitored for that, because being a cancer patient as well as having all these other things going on, you want to make sure that your doctor knows what's going on. You don't want to wait for the last minute. We want women to be proactive at all times," she said.

Sweeting also cited the importance of engaging in some form of exercise to relax the mind and do away with stress.

"They say cancer is mostly from stress, and so we want to find methods to help us relax and keep us going."
Each newly diagnosed patient is given a gift bag from Sister Sister containing information on patient care, a squeeze ball for exercising, information on prosthesis and the contact information for members of the group.

Supporting Ailey II this weekend can go a long way to supporting Sister Sister and its work.

With Breast Cancer Awareness Month recognized in October, Sweeting said the members of Sister Sister are available for lectures and demonstrations, especially to schools.

She believes it is important to educate people; the 2011 results from a years-long breast cancer study involving 214 Bahamian women with invasive breast cancer found that 25 percent of their relatives who participated in genetic testing had been found to have a genetic mutation.

A mutation was identified in 49 of the 214 breast cancer patients.

The Bahamas has also been found to have a high prevalence of BRCA1 mutations among breast cancer patients. To date six distinct BRCA 1 mutations have been found in patients from cancer families from The Bahamas.

According to Dr. Judith Hurley, a breast cancer specialist at the University of Miami School of Medicine, that meant the women were at a very high risk of developing breast cancer. Their lifetime risk of developing breast cancer was placed between 70 and 80 percent, and between 30 and 50 percent for the chance of developing ovarian cancer.

The researchers found through other phases of the study that abnormal genes were causing Bahamian women to develop breast cancer at much younger ages than their American counterparts. According to statistics, 34 percent of Bahamian women diagnosed with breast cancer were 44 or younger, compared to 12 percent of American women.

At the time, the average age of women with breast cancer in The Bahamas was 42, while the average age in the United States was 62.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide with nearly 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012, and the second most common cancer overall, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International.

The Bahamas ranked fifth on a list of the countries with the top 20 highest incidences of breast cancer, behind Belgium, Denmark, France and The Netherlands. But was not on the list among the top 20 countries with the most breast cancer survivors alive five years after diagnosis. The order in which the countries were ranked was based on the number of breast cancer survivors per 100,000 adult women in each country. Belgium had the highest proportion of breast cancer survivors still alive, five years after their diagnosis, followed by Denmark and France.

She encourages the public to support Ailey II and, in turn, Sister Sister.

"We want Bahamians to realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And we want them to be there so they can talk about it."

Sweeting's own granddaughter, Courtney Celeste Spears, will be among the troupe, and is in fact the face of Ailey II this year.

"She is so ecstatic that she is coming here to be able to perform before the people that she loves. Every day of her life she wants to know what she can do to help," said Sweeting.

Shavaughn Moss, Guardian Lifestyles Editor

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