Jonetta Rose Barras, The Examiner
2008-05-01 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

She was only 30 years old when she discovered the tiny ball in her breast. A Howard University doctor, Jack White, thought her age made cancer unlikely. Still, he performed the biopsy.

“I was on the phone talking with friends, when I was interrupted with an emergency [indicating] Dr. Jack White needs you to come to his office immediately,” says Myrtle Washington. “I went by myself.

“I remember calling my mother and my favorite aunt,” she continues, starting to cry, recalling the diagnosis that resulted in radical mastectomy.

A day after speaking with Washington, I’m in tears. Tommy Abney, my ex-husband, tells me that his wife, Oni Faida Lampley, died.  She was a vibrant, funny and talented stage and film actor whom I admired.

Lampley was thirtysomething when she first discovered she had breast cancer. Like Washington, she had a mastectomy. She participated in a documentary project that captured her progression through the disease; the film subsequently aired on PBS. Lampley’s cancer eventually went into remission, only to reappear a few years later in another part of her body. Her battle, hard-fought, ended Monday night.

I am devastated.

Each year, millions of women are diagnosed with breast cancer — too many of them die. Women in the District between 50 and 67 years old are less likely than the rest of the country (53 percent compared with 60 percent nationally) to have mammograms. Screening rates among African-American women (51 percent) are lower than among white women (61 percent). The rate of mortality is higher among black women — 36.1 per 100,000 — than white women — 26.7 per 100,000.

It’s hard to imagine that some collective, orchestrated walk or run could affect such a massive problem. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure has been successful in educating the public and providing funds to ensure that women, particularly poor women, receive what they need. More than $3 million raised from the 2007 race went to local organizations involved in prevention and treatment, says David Marin of the Podesta Group.

Seeing more than 45,000 people on the Mall, helping to fight against cancer, remembering those who died and celebrating those who have survived is empowering, says Washington.

“When they hear someone survived for 30 years, that gives them hope,” she continues, speaking about the patients with whom she works.

Lampley didn’t survive. Nevertheless, I’m sure she’d join Washington asking everyone to sign up at www.nationalraceforthecure.org or 703-416-RACE for the June 7 event. Washington will be there; she’ll be the person glowing, proud by the display of humanity and sure of the power of people working together for a worthy cause.

If you’re like me on Saturdays — too lazy to get anywhere before 10 a.m. — race organizers have created “Sleep-in for the Cure.” 

But on June 7, I won’t sleep late. I’ll honor my friend Oni Faida Lampley.