Atlanta Society category interest

(CBS) - Madeline Long and her daughter Chanel Wade have a personal connection to cancer. Long is a breast cancer survivor. Wade carries the BRCA gene, putting her at high risk for the disease.

“When I turned 25 I had to do checks every year for breast cancer. So it just makes it very real,” Wade said.

It’s why the mother and daughter are calling on Black women to be a part of the American Cancer Society’s Voices of Black Women, the largest-ever study of cancer risk and outcomes in Black women in the United States.

The study is hoping to partner with 100,000 Black women.

“There are really unique barriers to access to preventing cancer detecting, treating or surviving a cancer that Black women face,” said American Cancer Society Senior Vice President of Population Science Dr. Alpa Patel.

The study is observational. For about 30 years, it will collect data from Black women ages 25 to 55 who have never been diagnosed with cancer, examining things like behaviors, environment, and lifestyle.

“What this tells us is what is driving poorer health outcomes, particularly for cancer, for Black women, and now we have some actual targets for intervention,” said Patel.

Wade is taking part in the research for her family.

“If we can look at it and point to where the differences are, we can take a proactive step even before we get to the place where we need the radiation, the chemotherapy, and all these other things,” Wade said.

Long said, “This is what prevention really looks like. And so when we talk about healthcare healthcare disparities, this is how we bring down the numbers.”