‘A world where cancer is not a death sentence.’ Jill Biden on cutting cancer death rates

First Lady Jill Biden, speaking at a South Florida cancer summit Monday, talked of her family’s own cancer heartaches and acknowledged more research is needed to cut mortality rates in a disease that kills more than 600,000 people in the U.S. annually, second only to heart disease.

“When Joe and I lost our son Beau to brain cancer we decided to turn our pain into purpose by helping other families like ours,” said Biden, keynote speaker at the Cancer Survivorship Summit at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. She talked of building “a world where cancer is not a death sentence — where we stop cancer before it starts, where we invest in innovative research and help patients and families navigate this journey. “

The summit, which brought together medical experts in cancer along with cancer survivors, was hosted by breast cancer survivor and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democrat who represents parts of Broward, and comes in the middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Experts highlighted racial disparities in outcomes, the importance of preventative care, and the Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act, sponsored by Wasserman Schultz but which Congress hasn’t passed. Panels touched onartificial intelligence in oncology, post-treatment care, and those who care for a loved one with cancer.

Among those attending: Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, tennis champion Martina Navratilova, “The Real Housewives of Miami” cast member Julia Lemigova, and Douglas R. Lowy, principal deputy director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Navratilova was diagnosed with throat and breast cancer at the end of 2022; earlier this year, she said she was cancer free.

Biden said she and President Joe Biden re-ignited the Cancer Moonshot, a White House initiative first launched under President Obama that calls for reducing cancer mortality rates by at least 50% over the next 25 years.

There are more than 18 million survivors in the United States, and 26 million are expected by 2040.

‘Cancer touches nearly all of us’

Wasserman Schultz asked audience members to raise their hands if they were a cancer survivor or had served as a caregiver for a loved one with cancer.

“Almost every hand in this room went up,” she said, scanning the room. “Cancer touches nearly all of us in some way.”

To Wasserman Schultz, the issue is a personal one.

“I’m a mom, a wife, a sister, a daughter, and a cancer survivor. And what that journey through and beyond cancer survival looks like for me and millions of other Americans is why we’re here,” she said, getting emotional as she spoke.

The congresswoman said she hopes to use her experiences to advocate for others, pointing to the Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Act, which she re-introduced in June. She said the bill “sets out to provide a lifeline to survivors, closing many of the gaps that make patients feel like they get lost in transition.”

Racial cancer disparities

Multiple panels focused on racial disparities in cancer detection, treatment and outcomes.

“For Black women, we have a different disease,” said Ricki Fairley, chief executive and co-founder of TOUCH, The Black Breast Cancer Alliance, citing that Black women under 35 get breast cancer at twice the rate of white women and have lower survival rates.

Black women are 41% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, even though they have a lower risk of being diagnosed over their lifetimes, according to an American Cancer Society report. This is partially because Black women are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage.

“The guidelines we have right now are not in the favor of Black women,” Fairley said, referencing government recommendations about when to begin breast cancer screenings. “We’re dying younger.”

“We find that a lot of doctors will dismiss young women,” Fairley added. In some cases, she’s heard from patients who have presented with a lump in their breast and were told by a doctor to come back in six months. By that point, she said, “We’re either metastatic or dead.”

She emphasized the need to teach young women how to advocate for themselves and demand the medical treatment they deserve: “We ask doctors, how would you treat your mama?... Everyone deserves that level of care.”