
Martina Correia, the sister of Troy Davis, who was his strongest advocate, has succumbed to breast cancer. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago and given six months to live at that time, but she fought to stay alive so that she could fight for her brother, Troy, to stay alive.

Betty McGee, PhD, serves as the Bayview Hunters Point Health and Environmental Resource Center’s (HERC) executive director, working to create a more environmentally just San Francisco.

“I just think my mother died of a broken heart, but she made sure we were strong enough to deal with this,” said Martina Correia, Troy Davis’ sister. “It’s not just the inmate who is on Death Row. That whole family is on Death Row.”

The known health disparities that contribute to premature death from breast cancer in African American women have galvanized righteous opposition to the USPSTF mammogram recommendations. In the past, these recommendations have influenced decision making by physician groups and the health care insurers who pay for preventative studies.

Learning that you have breast cancer can be one of the most shocking and life altering moments of your entire life. The initial diagnosis can bring on feelings of not only worry, but life’s fragility. The idea of time being precious no longer seems like something that you just say in passing when talking to friends. Your time really does become precious and your sense of purpose kicks into overdrive.

A commercial message broadcast on national television last month by women’s breast cancer advocacy groups was assailed as outrageous, insensitive and an example of reverse sexism. It portrayed men in form fitting T-shirts and sexy tops with “tits” and “boobs.” Their message was clear if not “over the top.” If men had breasts, funding for breast cancer research and treatment in the U.S. would be a higher priority!

“On Sunday, the 15th of July, about noon, we were at Hunters Point and they put on us what we now know was the atomic bomb.” – Capt. Charles B. McVay III, U.S. Navy commanding officer, USS Indianapolis (from the Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center)

“Biomonitoring is the next logical, critical step for us to take in addressing threats to public health.” – Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, author of the California Biomonitoring Program, SB689