Health News / February 2007
Loving Sisters
The number of cancer deaths in the U.S. may have dropped but scientists still don’t know what causes cancer or why some people get it while others don’t. According to the American Cancer Society this year 178,480 women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,460 are expected to die of breast cancer. In West Virginia 1,180 new cases of breast cancer in women are anticipated.
Breast cancer is a local issue to all women, no matter where they live. Virtually every woman has a friend or a relative who has been affected by breast cancer. Women are always aware the disease may strike them personally or someone they love. But women have an opportunity to help find the cause and keep future generations of women from suffering the same fate?
In West Virginia, 130 women are making an effort to find the causes of breast cancer by joining the Sister Study. The Sister Study is a long-term study of women aged 35 to 74 whose sister had breast cancer. It is a national study to learn how environment and genes affect the chances of getting breast cancer. In the next year, researchers need 18,400 more women to reach their goal of 50,000.
More West Virginia woman are needed and being asked to participate in the study.
According to Marisol Euceda, “Women play many important roles throughout their lives-daughter, mother, and friend-but no relationship is as unique as the one between two sisters. Sister Study researchers hope the sisters of women with breast cancer can play another important role by helping discover how our environment and genes affect our chances of developing breast cancer. The Sister Study is particularly committed to enrolling women in every state, and from all backgrounds, occupations, races and ethnicities, so the study results represent and benefit all women. More than 31,600 women are currently enrolled.”
The Sister Study is a nationwide effort, conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, to learn about environmental and genetic causes of breast cancer. Women ages 35 to 74 are eligible to join if their sister (living or deceased), related to them by blood, had breast cancer; they have never had breast cancer themselves; and they live in the United States or Puerto Rico. The Sister Study can be done from home, in private and when it is convenient for women
According to Dale Sandler, Ph.D., Chief of the Epidemiology Branch at NIEHS and Principal Investigator of the Sister Study, “Doctors know very little about how the environment may affect breast cancer, that’s why the Sister Study is so important”. She says, “Many women have heard about the study, but they haven’t signed up yet, and we really need them now. We hope women will make that call today.”
Organizations in partnership with the Sister Study include the American Cancer Society, the Intercultural Cancer Council, the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health, Sisters Network Inc., Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization.
Marisol says, “Woman by woman, sister by sister, we can make a difference”.
To learn more or to participate in the Sister Study, visit www.sisterstudy.org or call 1-877-4SISTER (877-474-7837).
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