Rihanna Chooses Brave Gay Black Breast Cancer Advocate for Lingerie Campaign- “I Go Topless To Raise Awareness”

Ericka Hart is a 34-year-old breast cancer survivor and featured prominently in RiRi’s lingerie campaign. She’s a face for advocacy and representation, often going topless on her Instagram account to raise awareness around breast cancer. “I went topless just to educate to raise awareness. And I think that it’s working,” she said in an interview with SurvivorNet. 

“I went topless at a pretty prominent music festival in the middle of Brooklyn where there was lots of Black queer young people,” said Hart. “I wasn’t with any sort of sign and I didn’t write anything on my back I didn’t say check your breasts loudly. I just stood there, and people started taking pictures. And now I just continue to use that platform to educate about black bodies and how we regard black bodies in the medical systemin the world.”

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Ericka Speaks with SurvivorNet

Ericka Hart was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at 28. At the time of her diagnosis, Hart was living in Brooklyn and engaged to married.

In an interview with SurvivorNet, Hart said,  "Breast cancer can happen to anybody, so you want to be seen in advocacy campaigns. If you look at a lot of breast cancer advocacy campaigns, they’re mostly white, middle class, house in the suburbs, five kids and when I was diagnosed I was broke living in Brooklyn about to get married to a woman.”

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In addition to the lack of representation, Hart also noted the gross disparity in cancer care and prognosis for Black people in America versus white people in America. "Black people die from breast cancer at faster rates than white people,” said Hart, “and that has nothing to do with black people and a gene or anything like that. It has everything to do with us not existing in advocacy programs.”

Related: Sex and Cancer: Getting Intimate After Ovarian Cancer

Hart pointed to lighter topics, too, that accompany the breast cancer journey such as sex. She told SurvivorNet, "If you are diagnosed, and you're thinking you're never going to have sex again, think again. Sure there will be days where you won't feel up for it, but that doesn't mean your sex life is over.”

The Courage to Be You: Meet Survivor Ericka Hart

Racial Disparities in Cancer Care

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), approximately 276,480 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the U.S. every year. And it is known that Black women can experience delays in cancer diagnosis, treatment and thus, have a worse prognosis than their white counterparts.

Related: Staggering Racial Disparities in Cancer Black Melanoma Patients Wait Significantly Longer For Treatment Than Whites

Dr. Anita Johnson told SurvivorNet that access is key, it comes to closing the gap in racial disparities for cancer treatment. “The mortality rates for African-American women are substantially higher than Caucasian women,” says Dr. Johnson. Hart’s diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer often presents in African-American women. Dr. Johnson notes that this cancer, “is a more aggressive type of breast cancer which always requires chemotherapy and has a higher recurrence rate.”

Related: It's Imperative Black Cancer Patients Get Better Access to Clinical Trials

In Atlanta, where Dr. Johnson practices, there are some of the highest death rates from breast cancer in the U.S., she says. “And so when we look at different metropolitan areas where there are more black women, but still, they’re not being screened adequately.”

The key to closing this divide says Dr. Johnson, is access to better care and screening for everyone. Additionally, reviewing a patient’s family history is critical, as is access to clinical trials.

Breast Cancer Surgeon Explicitly Lays Out Ways We Can Close the Gap in Racial Disparity: "Access to Care is Key!"

 

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