"Breast cancer looks like me. I never thought I'd ever say that because I had never had any chronic illnesses growing up, said Saptosa Foster. "I'm a person who finds it difficult to ask for help. I'm the strong friend.""
"This was not a tumor you could feel. It was the size of a pencil eraser. I do self-breast exams," she said."
"This was a huge, huge blessing just to be able to have this detected when it was. So many things lined up in my favor. I feel it's important to talk and tell people about how it doesn't have to be a death sentence," Foster said."
"We want to know why. Are they being treated differently? Is it their environment? What is it?" questioned Tammy Messercola with the American Cancer Society."
Saptosa Foster, 49, received a stage 1 breast cancer diagnosis in April 2024 after a routine mammogram identified a tumor she could not feel. The tumor measured about the size of a pencil eraser. She underwent a lumpectomy in June 2024 and received targeted radiation without chemotherapy. Foster stayed at the American Cancer Society's Hope Lodge during treatment and celebrated becoming a cancer survivor in June 2024. The American Cancer Society reports one in eight U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and notes that Black women face later-stage diagnoses and the lowest survival rates. The ACS is recruiting for the Voices of Black Women study to improve early detection.
Read at ABC11 Raleigh-Durham
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