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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Rikki Fairley, and I'm a very blessed 12-year survivor of triple negative breast
00:11cancer.
00:12I'm Trish Michelle, and I'm an 8-year breast cancer survivor.
00:15My name is Rosa Yancey, and I am a 1-year breast cancer survivor.
00:20I'm here today in New York to hang out with two blessed sisters who I love.
00:25Having girlfriends that have been through the same experience as you makes it so much
00:29easier to be able to communicate and share.
00:31So I'm hyped about them being here, and I can't wait for them to get here.
00:35Rosa, Rikki, I'm so glad you made it.
00:38So glad we're here.
00:39Can't wait.
00:40Our ladies' lunch is finally happening.
00:42Yes.
00:43I know.
00:44Long overdue.
00:45I know we really needed this.
00:46It's so long overdue.
00:47We don't see each other enough, you know?
00:48Not enough.
00:49We're always on the ground doing our work, but we had to gather because it's a special
00:52occasion, right?
00:53It is.
00:54It is.
00:55So tomorrow makes my 1-year anniversary, or life-iversary.
00:59It makes one year since I've had my bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction.
01:03We're celebrating you.
01:04Yeah, what a difference a year makes, right?
01:06Think about where you were today, a year ago, right?
01:08A year ago, right?
01:09God is good.
01:10All the time.
01:11All the time.
01:12All the time.
01:13Thank you, God, right?
01:14That's right.
01:15And to know that this is just the beginning, right?
01:16Just the beginning.
01:17Like, we're some years out from you, and we can tell you each year is an opportunity
01:21to celebrate.
01:22It is.
01:23It is.
01:24And now you have to go to work, you know?
01:25Yes.
01:26You come out of the pain, you come out of the strife, and you gotta go to work.
01:30And then you gotta work.
01:31Us, Blesties, we share this bond of breast cancer, and it always amazes me to hear everybody's
01:37story because we all have this sort of theme that we all experience the same thing, but
01:41we all have it in so many different ways and see it so many different ways.
01:45No, it's really sad, though, you guys, that young women get dismissed by doctors, but
01:49it happens every day.
01:51And, you know, the data shows that black women under 35 get breast cancer at twice the rate
01:58of white women and die at three times the rate of white women, but it happens every
02:02day that you get dismissed.
02:03And how long did it take for you to get diagnosed, Rosa?
02:06Yeah, so it took several months before I was actually diagnosed.
02:09I found my lump, like you, Trish, I found my lump in January of last year, and I wasn't
02:14diagnosed until May.
02:16My providers kept telling me, it's just a cyst, we'll follow up in six months, come
02:21back, and they denied me a mammogram because I'm so young.
02:24At the time, I was only 28.
02:26Hearing Rosa's story about how she was dismissed reminds me so much about my story about having
02:31to fight for a diagnosis and a reminder, right, how important it is to advocate for oneself.
02:37When I felt my lump, I knew immediately, oh, this is cancer.
02:41So it was trying to get that diagnosis, which was so difficult because the doctor didn't
02:47even want to see me.
02:48And for you too, right?
02:49Yeah.
02:50And for me, actually, you know, I'm old, and my doctor found my lump.
02:54He's old.
02:55Okay.
02:56But my doctor actually found my lump, so I didn't find it, you know?
03:00And I should have known better than been doing self-exams because my mom had breast cancer.
03:05I have a family history.
03:06Every opportunity I take to share my story, maybe I talk too much about my story, but
03:11honestly, I don't think I talk enough about it because there's so much education to give.
03:15We black women need to be on our game.
03:18It's very encouraging to hear these other ladies' stories.
03:21I am new in my journey, and today I got to sit down with two other survivors who have
03:27been in this journey for quite some time now.
03:30So I just wanted to ask both of you ladies, what kind of gave you that courage to really
03:34advocate for yourself throughout your journey?
03:37You know, we are the CEOs of our own health.
03:39Yes.
03:40Absolutely.
03:41And our own bodies.
03:42We hire doctors.
03:43We pay them money to take care of us, right?
03:44Yes.
03:45Exactly.
03:46And so you have to just take control.
03:48This is my life.
03:49This is my body.
03:50This is my cancer.
03:51My disease.
03:52And I'm going to fix it.
03:53Yeah.
03:54And you know, I have this thing, a sign in my office, everything is figureoutable.
03:55Yes.
03:56My father taught me that.
03:57Like, just figure it out.
03:58Think harder.
03:59Do what you got to do.
04:00And I think we all, you know, being told you're going to die is just not going to happen.
04:03Yeah.
04:04And that's what we try to teach other women, too.
04:05Like, you know, you don't have to accept anything.
04:07There's such power in story sharing, right?
04:10You might feel like, oh, I'm just one person.
04:13But you are a person.
04:14You are an expert in your experience.
04:16And there's such strength in being able to communicate that with others, because others
04:20can learn from your lessons, and it can, like, light the path for them on their journeys.
04:25You know, we all share this experience, but we all have different stories that affects
04:29us all differently in how it integrates into our lives.
04:32And so just to hear another one's stories and the struggles they went through, the emotions
04:37they felt, makes me feel better, you know, makes me, you know, understand better how
04:41I felt.
04:42And just to be able to talk about it with somebody who understands it, it's blessed
04:47love, and it's amazing.
04:48So, you guys, how did you prepare for your doctor's appointments?
04:51How did you get ready?
04:53So getting ready for appointment, it's like game day, right?
04:56It's like you're getting ready for a big sporting match.
04:58It was just like, yes, I would lay my outfits out, and I would be prepared for that.
05:01But I would also have my notes, all the questions that I had that had come up from the last
05:06appointment, right?
05:07Because it's not just how you're feeling the day before the appointment or the day of,
05:11but how have you been feeling all the days leading up to it?
05:15Sleepless nights, like you talked about.
05:16Sleepless nights.
05:17Hot flashes, how you've been treating towards the meds.
05:20And so I had my notes that I was not going to leave that appointment without getting
05:24answered.
05:25Yeah.
05:26So I have to ask, what advice would you give your 55-year-old self who was just diagnosed?
05:32Well, you know, I was a crazy person, taking care of everybody.
05:36It's okay to take a minute.
05:38It's okay to find peace.
05:39It's okay to sit still for a moment and figure yourself out and give yourself attention.
05:44Cheers to that.
05:45Shall we?
05:46Yeah.
05:47Cheers.
05:48Cheers.
05:49Living our best lives.
05:50Yes.
05:51And cheers to you, Rosa.
05:52Cheers.
05:53Thank you, lady.
05:54Cheers to you, Rosa.
05:55So beautiful.
05:56Cheers to one year and a lifetime more.
05:57That's right.
05:58Your life bursary.
05:59I'm so grateful to Essence for bringing this project to the world, to our community.
06:04It was definitely inspirational, and honestly, I'm proud of myself because I advocated for
06:10myself a lot throughout my journey.
06:12I pushed for my care, I pushed for the things I wanted, and to see that, you know, there
06:16are other survivors who have done the same, it's like, okay, it's a pat on my back.
06:20We had some tea time, we talked, we learned, we shared, and we celebrated one another.
06:25And my hope is that this mission accomplished lets folks know that you can accomplish your
06:29missions too.
06:30There's hope.
06:34There's hope.