Carmen and Ada
Left to right: Carmen and Ada
By Ada, a participant from New York
My sister Carmen and I were born in Puerto Rico eleven months apart. We were spoiled by both our parents, but especially by my father. He was so proud of us and he was always referring to us as “mis nenas” (my girls). We grew up together, went to the same school, shared the same bedroom, clothes, friends…everything! My parents always told my sister “’Carmencita’, you are responsible for your younger sister Ada.” When our father passed away in 1977, we were both devastated. Not only because of his death, also because my mother lost the love of her life.
Two days before my 38th birthday, my sister Carmencita learned that “the lump” on her right breast was malignant. She did not call to give me the “bad news” until the next day as she did not want to spoil my birthday. Right away, I flew back home from New York to be by her side. We spent day after day for a whole month calling and visiting doctors looking for different opinions, until she settled on a radical mastectomy. My sister went through very hard times and suffered so much thinking about what was going to happen to her baby daughter. Nevertheless, she always had the support of our family and many true friends praying for her recovery. I promised my sister that even though I was living far from her, I was going to be there for her through good and bad times and that she was going to have my support in every decision that she had to make.
It has been 14 years since her diagnosis. Now she is a survivor and is cancer free. I am very proud of her because she has helped and supported other women that are in the same situation that she was in years ago. She spends most of her time educating other women about early detection of breast cancer, organizing walks and distributing information about getting yearly mammograms. Moreover, guess whom she is always following up on to make sure of that yearly exam? Of course…me! I love my sister very much…..She is my Puerto Rican Idol!
I joined the Sister Study because I hope this research will help find what causes breast cancer so we can help prevent it in future generations. I need to know why my sister had breast cancer and not me. We were born in the same place, raised together, ate the same food…Why Carmencita and not me?
I am so excited about my participation in this study and I feel very proud to be a part of it. I encourage other women to join!