Nine siblings. Eight with cancer stories. Three breast cancers, two prostate cancers, one lung cancer, two chronic lymphocytic leukemia, one essential Thrombocythemia, one neck cancer and multiple skin cancers. Sounds like a report from a cancer clinic, but it’s just Pearl and her siblings!
The improvements in care that I have witnessed are the direct result of the policy work and research that brought about better treatments and medications.
Pearl was first diagnosed in 1990 with breast cancer. Since then, she’s heard “you have cancer” six more times.
Having lost so many family and friends to “the BIG C,” advocacy for cancer issues has become her passion. She’s turned her fear and anger into advocacy, volunteering her time to advocate for cancer patients like herself and her siblings, even while continuing to battle chronic leukemia and her recently diagnosed neck cancer.
She views this history of cancer as a terrible legacy to pass on to the next generation, and vows to continue to fight as long as she can in the hopes they will not have to hear those dreaded words.