It’s been 25 years since Oprah Martin got the feeling that every woman fears: a lump in her breast.
Martin was breastfeeding her daughter when she noticed the problem.
“I was like, ‘What is this lump?’” Martin said. “I can’t do anything, like the milk wasn’t coming out.”
Martin saw a doctor, and the imaging of her breast tissue was filled with calcium and cancer deposits, which Martin described as looking like “a black piece of paper with holes in it.”
And within 30 days, her cancer had progressed from stage zero to stage one.
“I saw at least four doctors and three specialists because I asked for a second opinion before I decided to let them cut me open,” said Martin, who received a degree from Morgan State in family and consumer sciences and human sciences communications in 2014.
Martin underwent major reconstructive surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her healing process was a daily struggle. She had to relearn basic tasks, including holding her children.
“I had two young children. I had to learn how to walk again, take showers, all of that,” Martin said. “The physical part is just because you don’t want people looking at you funny, but the mental part is that you have to really focus on.”
“I didn’t think it (breast cancer) could happen to me. But when it did, I realized awareness saves lives—especially in our community.”
During the 2025-26 academic year, the Spokesman will examine the effect of cancer on the Morgan community, from the student body to faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni in its Black Health Matters: Cancer on Campus series.
This October marks 40 years since the American Cancer Society launched Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a campaign that originated as a public health initiative to educate women about the importance of advocacy and survival.
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), more than 316,000 women in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year, making awareness and action more important than ever.
Breast cancer treatment has improved significantly over the years, but health disparities for Black women still exist.
Dr. Shana Ntiri, medical director of Baltimore City’s Cancer Program, which is operated by the University of Maryland’s Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, said that while modern breast cancer treatment has improved in detecting and treating the disease, there’s still a hurdle to overcome.
“Progress hasn’t reached everyone equally,” said Nitri. “We have to make sure women of color get screened and supported earlier.”
Ntiri, who’s also a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society, said the Greenebaum Center is working to close those gaps with the Baltimore City Cancer Program, which provides free cancer screenings and education workshops to underserved communities.
In addition, Ntiri said the cancer program helps uninsured and underinsured women get screened and tested, providing free mammograms, pap tests and colon screenings.
“Our goal is to remove as many barriers as possible—whether that’s the cost, transportation, or fear,” Ntiri said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breast cancer is more likely to be diagnosed in Black women at later stages and tends to be more aggressive.
Nevertheless, researchers have worked hard to understand the science behind breast cancer and the contributing factors, ranging from environment to genetics and proper access to care.
Jasmine McDonald, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, studies how environmental and biological factors influence breast cancer risk, particularly in Black women.
“All cancer is genetic,” McDonald said. “There is no gene that’s deterministic for cancer.”
McDonald said that although genetics plays a key role, cancer isn’t predetermined by a single gene. Indeed, having the BRCA gene mutations doesn’t guarantee a cancer diagnosis, McDonald said.
“Not even BRCA 1—that has the highest risk for developing breast cancer and other cancers—having the BRCA gene does not mean that you will definitely get cancer,” said McDonald. “There are people who have a genetic predisposition. Those with like a BRCA mutation, or PalB 2 mutation, things of that nature.”
The CDC reported that in 2022, there were over 27,000 cases of breast cancer being reported in women under the age of 45.
McDonald’s research focuses on “windows of susceptibility,” which are periods when the breast tissue undergoes rapid changes.
“If you can imagine if the breast is going through rapid cellular turnover, then if you have outside exposures that may create incorrect DNA genes or epigenetic modifications, or do something to the genetics that you have, such that what outputs isn’t exactly right, the DNA may not have caught it,” McDonald said. “Your DNA repair system may not have caught it. And if your DNA repair system didn’t catch it, then it just lives—it’s going to replicate with that error.”
Even with regular screenings, breast cancer can return. Martin was diagnosed a second time in 2020 at 44, two decades after her first battle.
“I was trying to figure out what was causing this pain in my chest,” Martin said. “It was sticking out of my chest like it was trying, like it was trying to come out of the skin.”
Despite going to the emergency room, the medical staff was unhelpful, Martin said, and they advised her to see her primary care doctor. But one of Martin’s worst nightmares came true: the cancer had returned.
“The lump itself looked like a thumbtack,” Martin said. “And I’m like, okay, just get it out.”
Martin has completed surgery and radiation treatment. She is in remission and is now taking tamoxifen to lower the risk of the cancer returning.
“My doctor told me once she released me the first time, and I told her that I had to come back, she said, ‘Oh, we don’t want you to come back,” Martin said.
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation reports that, despite having a 5% lower incidence rate than white women, Black women have a 38 percent higher mortality rate.
“At one point, everybody was screwed—there was no mammogram. Everyone died because there’s nothing you can do about it. The moment you can do something, that’s when disparities happen.
Ntiri said medical staff can carry racial bias even with patients that have the same disease.
“If you have a Black woman and a white woman who have the same cancer, and you offer them the same treatment at the same time, outcomes are the same,” Ntiri said. “Which means that there are some levels of bias, whether it be explicit or implicit bias on behalf of the physicians.”
She said there are computations involved in measuring racial bias in healthcare settings.
“There are calculators that are used in medicine,” Ntiri said. They’re often referred to as risk-based calculators or algorithms, but they often incorporate race as a factor. And it has been shown that when race is incorporated, that race factor introduces bias.”
Advances in breast cancer research have revolutionized treatment and survival since the discovery of the BRCA genes and the development of targeted therapies and mRNA-based vaccines, according to an ACS press release.
For Martin, surviving breast cancer twice wasn’t enough—she wanted to ensure other women wouldn’t face their diagnosis alone.
“My outlook on life is who is going to advocate for you if you can’t advocate for yourself,” Martin said. “That’s what made me become an advocate.”
Martin founded Voices in Pink Inc., a nonprofit that helps cancer patients with medical bills, medication costs, and transportation to appointments.
She’s also been volunteering with the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer for nearly 20 years, making her the longest-serving volunteer for the program in Maryland.
She also teaches classes for children whose parents have cancer.
“Children are getting younger and younger as being caregivers,” Martin said. “No one stops to think about them.”
McDonald said young women who are diagnosed with cancer, like Martin was when she was first diagnosed, need a sense of community.
“You are not at fault. You did nothing wrong. You cannot do this alone. You must find your people,” McDonald said. “You’re going to need community.”
That’s wisdom that Martin signs off on.
“My advice to others, especially young women, is to don’t be afraid,” she said. “It’s okay to not be okay. But don’t be afraid to say something. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself.”
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month marks its 40th anniversary, advocates like Martin and researchers like McDonald and Ntiri continue working toward equitable outcomes for all women.
“I hope 40 years from now they’re saying they absolutely achieved that,” Ntiri said. “That it’s been done, period.”
For Martin, who marked her 49th birthday in July and got to see her children grow into adults and meet her 8-year-old granddaughter, the message is simple.
“I’m grateful every day to be here,” Martin said. “If you see something, say something—it could save your life.”
If you would like to share a cancer-related story, whether it’s yours or someone else’s, you know, email us at [email protected].
