Celebrating life

Earlier this month a 23-year-old African-American woman walkedinto the office of the Y-Me office in downtown Chicago. She wascrying. She was on her way to the hospital for a mastectomy andchemotherapy. She needed to pick up a breast form prosthesis and awig.

Minutes later, laughter flooded the hallways as this same woman'ssorrow diminished, remembers Martha Haley, 41, a breast cancersurvivor who heads the Y-Me prosthesis and wig department.

What Haley told her: ``You get hot flashes when you go throughchemotherapy. My doctor really didn't get into the severity of hotflashes.'' After her third chemo session, Haley's girlfriend wasdriving her home. They were at a stoplight when Haley felt a rushthroughout her body. ``It was like a furnace,'' she says. ``I whippedoff my wig and started fanning myself. The guy in the car next to ussaw this bald-headed woman panting and fanning with her wig. Thewoman couldn't believe she was laughing the day of her surgery.''

Haley is a special person. In a disease of red lights, she seesonly the green.

Haley, among other brave breast cancer survivors, is featured inthe documentary ``A

Celebration of Life: Rising Above Breast Cancer,'' which repeats

at 6 p.m. Sunday on WYCC-Channel 20.

Although white women are diagnosed with breast cancer more often,African-American women are dying at rates higher than any otherethnic group, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for African-American women between 35 and 54. The hourlong ``Celebration ofLife'' documentary examines three reasons that lead to this outcome:fear, lack of access to health care, and racial and economic bias.The documentary is hosted by jazz singer Nancy Wilson.

Chicago's Haley is one of the most articulate voices in thedocumentary. She also has one of the most poignant stories. Hercancer returned last July after the documentary was completed.

A single mom, Haley was first diagnosed with cancer in 1996. Shelost her right breast and underwent six rounds of chemo. ``Last yearI had a mastectomy on the left breast,'' she says. ``I went throughchemotherapy a second time.'' Haley stops and smiles.

She says, ``And now my hair is growing back. A lot of women havethe fear of recurrence. I'm doing pretty good. When they see me stillgoing, they know life goes on. When you first see me, you see awoman. You don't see somebody who has lost both their breasts. That'sthe message I try to relay to people.''

Support is paramount among breast cancer survivors. More than 100survivors attended a ``Heroes and Friends'' reception recently atRichard J. Daley College. Representatives from Y-Me and Gilda's Clubwere in attendance.

``I was intrigued that all the women read the invite carefully andleft all the information they were supposed to leave,`` says JanetTreuhaft, who organized the event. ``Then I realized as breast cancersurvivors, these women had to pay attention to directions and followprocedures with their medical treatment.''

In the documentary, Haley talks about courage and drawing on thewill to see her daughter Alicia, now 17, get married. Haley also hastwo sons; Aaron, 21 and Andreaus, 19. They shaved their heads to showsolidarity during their mother's chemotherapy sessions. But Haley'smost daunting

task was to tell

Alicia the cancer returned.

``That was . . . that was . . .,'' Haley bows her head for thefirst time in an hourlong conversation. ``hard. I never thought itwould happen to me again. When I went through it the first time, itwas so hard for her. She was 12. When kids are older, they comparecancer with dying. They don't see living.

``Over four years they saw Mom's triumphs. She's very attatched tome. I feel so bad this happened to me because it put her in this riskfactor. If I had breast cancer after menopause, her history wouldn'tbe that strong. But when you're pre-menopause, it's strong.''

Haley's steadfast roots go back to her upbringing in the housingprojects. A Chicago native, Haley lived with her 11 siblings inCabrini-Green from the time she was 3 until she was 12.

``My mother was very strong. There was always food on the table.Every Friday we had church in the house. No matter what went onoutside, she wouldn't allow us to be involved. When we had prayer, mymother would always pick me to stand up and sing the Caravans' `WeAre Soldiers in the Army of the Lord.' I hated singing. I was theninth child. I had to stand up. When

I was first diagnosed, I realized my mother prepared me with

that song.''

``A Celebration of Life'' spans the country and interviews womenwho stood up to the challenge of breast cancer and took command oftheir health needs. The documentary spotlights Desi's Beauty Salon,2130 W. 95th St., where nurses circulate breast cancer literaturewhile their captive audience receives a Saturday morning wash 'n'set.

The awareness program was established three years ago in 103 Southand West Side beauty salons by the National Black LeadershipInitiative on Cancer, headquartered at the University of Illinois atChicago. ``The message was to take care of yourself and get checkedregularly,'' says Funmi Apantaku Onayemim, NBLCI regional director.``We saw in excess of 2,500 women. We figured we'd save some livesand we did. Beauty salon owners called back and said some of theirclients found lumps after going through our project.''

The women featured in the documentary share their experiences andemphasize awareness. ``To me, lack of knowledge is the biggest reasonblack women have the highest death rate (of breast cancer),'' Haleysays. ``Economics are part of it too, but they're opening doors forwomen who don't have insurance to get mammograms and even surgery. Alot of women don't believe this can happen to us.

``Myself, I thought breast cancer was something that happened to amiddle-aged white woman. Not a young black woman. I'd see pictures ofwhite women on (breast cancer) posters in doctor's offices. Thatwasn't me.''

Haley is in regular contact with other women in the fight againstbreast cancer. She waves her right wrist in the air. It is adornedwith a bracelet made of hundreds of tiny green, yellow, white andblack beads. The bracelet is a gift from a breast cancer survivor inNigeria. Through Haley, Y-Me donated a prosthesis to the survivor'ssister. The Nigerian woman was so happy when she received it in themail, she sent Haley the bracelet as a token of gratitude.

Another woman recently told Haley she was reluctant to undergochemotherapy, just as Haley was during her first round with breastcancer.

Haley says, ``The woman said, `Look at you, you did it (chemo) andit (cancer) came back. I said, `I did it. And I'm doing it again. IfI didn't do it the first time, I might not be here to see it happenthe second time.' You have to. You have to keep on going.''

The Chicago Department of Public Health offers free mammograms atthe following National Health Centers: West Town, 2418 W. Division;Englewood, 641 W. 63rd St., Roseland, 200 E. 115th St.; Uptown, 845N. Wilson and Lower West, 1713 S. Ashland. For information and clinichours, call (312) 747-9889.