IU Simon Cancer Center to sponsor breast tissue collection bank, urges Hispanic women to participate

Michael Schug, communications specialist for the IU Simon Cancer Center, said he wants to be clear: The upcoming collection is not a campaign.

Schug said the tissue bank does monthly collections of blood and breast tissue, and it is the only bank in the world that collects normal tissue samples from volunteer donors.

This one, taking place Aug. 8, will target Hispanic women in response to a study that cites Hispanic women to be 2.7 times more likely to have “an advanced cancer, which lessens the effectiveness of treatments,” according to a press release detailing the collection.

Schug said while Hispanic women are encouraged to donate, all women are welcome to volunteer at the bank Saturday.

Dr. Susan Clare, an attending physician fromIU's Hospital at IU–Purdue University Indianapolis, is one of two doctors leading the collection.

“We want to be representative of the country’s population,” she said. “So we’re trying to diversify the bank, because obviously, Caucasians are not the only people affected by cancer.”

Clare said breast cancer research is necessary because breast cancer is the only form of cancer that has no tissue to compare the cancer to.

“It is clear from medical history that the best strategy for prevention is to research and inform,” Clare said.

A 1998 study showing a “hole in the portfolio of research” indicated a need for other ethnic groups to be represented in cancer research findings.

In 2004, Connie Rufenbarger, on behalf of the Indiana-based organization Catherine Peachey Fund Inc., contacted the tissue bank to help fix that problem, Clare said.

“It’s not for us alone to fix. It’s for anyone with a great idea on breast cancer prevention,” Clare said. “The slight pain of the procedure is nothing, considering the benefits of helping research.”

Clare said the tissue bank has had about 600 women act as volunteer donors thus far.


THE STORY OF CHRIS AND JOSIE

Chris Baker of Kansas City, Mo., is one of about 100 women registered to donate breast tissue to the Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center.

She’s doing it for the first time instead of sending a check.

She’s doing it for other women, who aren’t as “lucky” as she is.

She’s doing it for her sister, T.C., who was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer in 2003 and passed away in November 2007.

Baker moved to Indianapolis for six months and befriended Indianapolis resident Josie Shannon, whom she jokingly said was her “only friend in there.”

“We hit it off after, like, two seconds,” Shannon said of their fast friendship. “She’s seriously the funniest person I’ve ever met despite all she’s been through.”

Shannon will be volunteering for her second time at the tissue bank.

“How could I not be involved?” she said. “I feel a responsibility to do something, though my family has been blessed to not have dealt with cancer.”

Shannon, the wife and mother of three, will be supporting Baker but also donating tissue for the sake of her two girls because, she said, you just never know.

The friendship endured Baker’s loss of her sister, especially through a blog Baker began as a humorous way for people to keep up with her life, which later became an outlet to capture the range of emotions involving T.C.

Baker is involved with the fight against breast cancer in Kansas City, pledging 10 percent of her earnings as a spa owner to the Kansas University Medical Center’s Kansas Masonic Cancer Research Institute.

But, Baker admitted, she had no hands-on, personal dedication to the fight besides doing annual walks for a cure.

Baker’s friend Robin is coming along with her.

Together, they went down a list of blessings they share.

“We both have health insurance and access to health care, where so many don’t,” Baker said. “The thought that our physical bodies can help so much to find a cure far outweighs any pain I may experience.”


ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

La Casa Latino Cultural Center Director Lillian Casillas said she commends the tissue bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center and its efforts to diversify its bank by targeting specific ethnic groups.

“I like that they are targeting Latina women for this particular collection, because unfortunately, in many studies regarding disease and cancer, people of color are often not included,” she said.

But, to do more outreach to various ethnic communities and get more Hispanic women involved, Casillas suggested a more aggressive campaign, which includes really getting in touch with members of certain communities and their media.

“I didn’t even know this was going on,” she said. “I may sneak up there and see if I can be volunteer 101, if they are expecting 100.”

Casillas said she has dealt with stomach cancer in women on her father’s side of the family and ovarian cancer for women on her mother’s side.

“So, if I am at risk for anything, breast cancer or otherwise, I’d love to know more about what the risks are and how can I reach out,” she said. “How can we reach out?”