FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2010

 
Contact: Chris Viveiros
617.927.6342 / 617.721.7494
cviveiros@fenwayhealth.org

FENWAY HEALTH’S TWELFTH ANNUAL AUDRE LORDE CANCER AWARENESS BRUNCH GATHERS WOMEN AFFECTED BY CANCER TO SHARE, NETWORK AND EMPOWER

Fenway Health will host the twelfth annual Audre Lorde Cancer Awareness Brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 23 at Fenway Health, Ansin Building, 9^th floor, 1340 Boylston Street, Boston.  The Audre Lorde Cancer Awareness Brunch is held each year for women and their friends who have been affected by cancer. This unique gathering provides an opportunity for women to share, network, laugh, cry and rediscover their resilience and strength.  This year’s theme is Shared Voices of Strength, Healing and Hope.

Recipients of this year's Spirit of Fire award will be Byllye Avery and Ngina Lythcott. The Spirit of Fire award is given in recognition of outstanding life-long contributions of an individual or group of people in optimizing the health of women of color. Adaora Asala will be the recipient of this year's Trailblazer award. The Trailblazer award is given in honor of an individual or group of people who demonstrate extraordinary creativity in developing new strategies to enhance healthcare for women of color.  There will also be singing, poetry, spoken word as well other entertainment. Free acupuncture services will be available at the event.

The Audre Lorde Brunch is also hosting an evening event in conjunction with QWOC+ Boston called The Pink Affair at Mantra Nightclub, 52 Temple Place, Boston.  More information and tickets for The Pink Affair are available at thepinkaffair.eventbrite.com.

“The Audre Lorde Brunch is an amazing event in which sisters reach out to hold each other's hands and touch each other's hearts,” said Dr. Jennifer Potter, Director of Fenway’s Women’s Health program.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States.  Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, aside from skin cancer. Breast cancer especially impacts Black women in the US:

• Black women have a lower incidence of breast cancer than white women but have a much higher mortality rate—survival rate at 5 years for black women is 77% versus 89% for white women.
• Black women with breast cancer die at younger ages than white women—the median age at death for black women with breast cancer is 61 years and the median age for white women is 70 years.
• Recently there has been a dramatic increase in the number of black women under 40 years diagnosed with aggressive breast cancers which have a much higher mortality rate.
• Black women are more often diagnosed with Her2 negative breast cancers which are more difficult to treat as medical research has not yet focused on developing treatments for this population.

Started in 1999, the Audre Lorde Cancer Awareness Brunch is named in memory of Audre Lorde, a self-described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.”  A graduate of Columbia University and Hunter College, where she later held the prestigious post of Thomas Hunter Chair of Literature, she was also a cancer survivor who bravely documented her 14-year battle against the disease in "The Cancer Journals" and in her book of essays "A Burst of Light". She struggled against a medical establishment frequently indifferent to cultural differences and insensitive to women's health issues and defied societal rules that said she should hide the fact that she had breast cancer.  Lorde died of cancer on November 17, 1992.

RSVP to Erica Pollock at epollock@fenwayhealth.org or online at audrelordebrunch2010.eventbrite.com.   The event is free, but space is limited.  Directions can be found on our website, www.fenwayhealth.org/directions.

For nearly forty years, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in our neighborhood, the LGBT community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population.  The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues.  Fenway’s Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center is dedicated to providing the best quality health care for youth and young adults ages 12 to 29 who may not feel comfortable going anywhere else.  More about all of our programs and services can be found at www.fenwayhealth.org.