Sister Study Volunteers
DOTTIE STERLING, PHD
Left to right:
The Golden Girls - Dottie, the oldest, Wish, the baby, and Fluffy, the middle
sister
The following is the speech given by Dottie Hendricks Sterling
PhD. (sister of Wish Martin) at the American Cancer Society breakfast in
Cleveland, Ohio on March 9, 2005. Dottie
is enrolled in the Sister Study and is a strong advocate for the participation
of African American women in this landmark breast cancer research study.
THE SISTER STUDY
Top of the morning to you!
To the American Cancer Society, its staff, volunteers, guests and all in attendance today. I want to thank you for affording me the opportunity to share with you my experience as part of the National Sister Study, Breast Cancer Research.
This most important endeavor to reach 50,000 women, ages 35-74 is conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is also in partnership with the American Cancer Society, Sisters Network, Inc. the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization, The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and many local community breast cancer support and advocacy groups.
Why is the Sister Study important to me and my two sisters? Why is it a priority for the three of us? Well, breast cancer hit close to home for us 14 years ago, when my youngest sister, Wish Martin, during a routine visit was told she had a lump. I remember the phone call, the conversation when Wish shared that diagnosis with me. Devastation, fear, being totally overwhelmed didn’t come close to describing my feelings at that time. But, you have to know Wish to know and understand how she handled that diagnosis and all the phone calls, visits, treatments, etc., from that first day to the present. Her comments were, “there’s no need to get upset; that won’t change anything; I will just deal with this; it will be ok.” Being a praying family we got the prayers on the fast track. And, we are still praying today and tomorrow for continuous healing and blessings for our Wish.
So when Wish informed us about the Sister Study and requested our participation, she already knew the answer. We are willing and active participants because #1 it’s our sister, it’s about blood, it’s about family, it’s about being in it together, at a different level. #2 we’re in it because we believe in the goals of the Sister Study and the ten year commitment to learn what causes this disease, not just genes, hormones, reproductive health and lifestyle, but looking at environmental factors that could be related to breast cancer risk.
I’m sure the majority of sisters who signed on for the study did not realize, as I didn’t initially, that at first it is very, very intense, and at least 10 years long, a real investment of time. But, it is a small price to pay to support such an effort. It gives me a sense of additional hope, bonding, involvement and making a contribution at a deeper, digging deeper level. There’s nothing cursory about this study.
As I participated in the 1-1½ hour long phone interviews, taking time to fill out long, long forms, answer a zillion questions (personal and otherwise) starting from before birth to present, letting strangers into my home to collect dust samples (I knew that one day all my days of not dusting would prove beneficial), receive/giving of my toe nail clippings, urine, blood (lots of it), body measured, I continue each of these and think I’m helping, not just my sister Wish, but all sisters in the U.S. and the world.
I’ve always enjoyed a challenge, the opportunity to help with what seems an enigma, a puzzle. I love it when the pieces begin to fall into place. The Sister Study is another life enriching experience for me, another opportunity to stretch my sense of contribution. I like being an informed risk-taker, a person who likes to give and receive hope, and a sense of being really alive to all. And, to give to this study, to my own baby sister is a real plus for me. I also do it because I love my sister Wish, it’s as simple as that. What does love have to do with it?” Love has everything to do with it. This is a real tribute to the love I have for my sisters and a tribute to the strength, fortitude and faith of my baby sister, WISH MARTIN. She has always been unique, outgoing, strong individual, an independent thinker and a survivor. She continues to be such.
God has always been our strength; he is still our present source, our oasis when times get tough. I do this in partnership with all the sisters from all walks of life, and the One above. What A Team!
I’ve written a poem of sorts for this occasion, sort of a play on the words Sister Study, as an acronym.
S - is for all the sisters before us, the sisters presently with us and the sisters who are yet to come. Survivors all, at different levels.
I - is for the individuality of all of these sisters; their intense zeal for life, their invitation to live life.
S - is for the rainbow sisters in the Sister Study. We are Black, White, Tan, Brown, Yellow, Red, Carmel, Cream, Mahogany, Chocolate, Vanilla and all the shades in between, and we’re just as sweet!
T - is for trusting sisters, testing the water sisters, trail-blazing sisters, tear-stained sisters, too, too much sisters who are tough to the bone.
E - is for our environments that are being studied and the epidemiology of it all, but also the endless energy of our sisters, the eternal, everlastingness of our sisters, the empowerment of our sisters. It will never end, even when it ends, it’s not over, eternity never ends.
R - is a rage for race for life, a rip-roaring race for a resolution that will lead to a solution. It’s an R for real, so real! A reach beyond our grasp to grab this bull by the horns and ride it until it drops.
S - is for the Study. God Bless this long-term Study. S is for Spread the word about the Study. The Study is the Solution!
T - is for the tests we will endure, the trust we will sustain, the trails we will engage, the totality of it all.
U - is for U – What will you do? Undergird our study, utilize our study, understand our study, our quest for the gold.
D - is for devotion, dreams, divas, daughters, direction, decisions, dialing 1-8774 SISTER. And then there’s Dr. Dale; need I say more?
Y - is for Yes, yes for sisters, yes for the study, yes for the solidarity, yes for the foundation, yes for the research, yes for 10 years, yes for paperwork, yes for home visits, yes for phone interviews, yes for boxes of goodies, yes that the Sister Study will yield success – YES!