(ABOVE: Libby’s Legacy founder Robin Maynard-Harris (L) and Mission Manager (and breast cancer survivor) Sandy Campbell show off the new brochure for breast cancer information. Photo by Jeremy Williams.)
ORLANDO | Another Breast Cancer Awareness Month passed with the end of October. The events have been packed up and the pink shirts have been stowed away in the drawer for next year, but for those who have gone through living with the disease can tell you cancer doesn’t go away once the pink ribbons are put away.
“Breast cancer does not end in October,” says Robin Maynard-Harris, founder of Libby’s Legacy Breast Cancer Foundation. “You can be diagnosed any time of the year.”
Maynard-Harris started Libby’s Legacy in 2007 to honor of her mother, Libby Maynard, who passed away that year due to Stage IV breast cancer.
“Libby’s Legacy provides mammograms and free breast health services to the underserved, but not just the underserved. Just because you have health insurance and money doesn’t mean you automatically know how to navigate breast cancer,” Maynard-Harris says. “We help navigate and advocate for anyone diagnosed, and go with them to their appointments and take notes.”
Maynard-Harris wants to get the information out there so that all year round—not just in the month of October—women know what the risk factors are and how susceptible an individual is to getting breast cancer, and she is doing that with a grant from The Contingo Fund.
“They provided us a grant to make these informational brochures because they see the value in getting the information out there,” Maynard-Harris says.
The brochure, Bridging Breast Health Gaps in the LGBTQ Community, will be available at Libby’s Legacy as well as made available at various events throughout the year.
“This covers information that many people may know, but a lot of it may come as a surprise to a lot of people,” Maynard-Harris says.
One of the primary issues Maynard-Harris wants to educate women in the community on is that lesbians have a higher risk of getting breast cancer in their lifetime than their heterosexual counterparts.
Lesbians are at a higher risk for three reasons, according to Maynard-Harris. The first reason is breastfeeding.
“Breastfeeding reduces your chance of getting breast cancer,” she says. “Not so many lesbians now, but back in the day when lesbians weren’t having children and weren’t breastfeeding. Those women are now in their 40s and 50s, and didn’t have children.”
The second reason is not using alcohol in moderation. This is not a risk factor exclusively to lesbians, alcohol consumption is an issue within the entire LGBTQ community. Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have shown higher levels of alcohol and drug use within the LGBTQ community, as well as heavy drinking into later life.
The third reason, and possibly the most crucial according the Maynard-Harris, who is openly gay herself, is the relationship a lesbian has with her doctor.
“When you’re in your 20s and you start going to the gynecologist, it is so important that you feel you can be open and honest with that doctor,” she says. “Unfortunately those same doctors who you need to come out to and be personal with are not always to most open and understanding people.”
Lesbian, bisexual women and transgender people are less likely to visit a doctor or nurse and seek breast cancer screenings than heterosexual women due to low rates of health insurance, fear of discrimination and negative experiences with healthcare providers.
Finding the right doctor is of particular importance to Maynard-Harris who has had a less than supportive gynecologist in the past.
“I had a visit with my doctor and they found a cyst and I was worried about it,” Maynard-Harris recalls. “And his response was, ‘It’s not like you were going to have children anyway.’ When I told him I might someday, through in-vitro, he said to me ‘Good luck on getting anyone in this town to help you with that.’ That’s the one writing my prescriptions and doing my breast exams, and when something like that happens some women decide that they are just not going back. They decide they are just not getting checked. So many women do not have a good relationship with their doctor.”
Several other risk factors include being over 40 years old, having a family history of breast cancer and anyone undergoing hormone replacement therapy.
“This is a risk factor so many doctors are not talking about,” Maynard-Harris says. “Many of the various types of breast cancer are estrogen fed, and if you already have a family history and you are transitioning and taking estrogen pills you increase your risk of breast cancer.”
One in eight women get breast cancer, but survival rates are very good the sooner you catch it, making early detection vital. According to Cancer.org, catching breast cancer in Stage I gives you a near 100 percent chance of survival. That chance of survival drops to 11 percent if found in Stage IV.
“Every month you should be doing your self exams, and it’s not just lumps. You are looking for changes,” Maynard-Harris says. “That can be dimpling of the skin, inversion of the nipple or discharge. I have a friend who was recently diagnosed and she only felt a thickening in one of her breasts, and she just felt something was wrong. So you must know your breasts.”
For more information visit LibbysLegacy.org.
