Speaker to educate about cancer

Cancer survivor stresses need for screenings

By Jamie Teibel
Staff Writer

In 1974, Wanna Wright was diagnosed with cervical cancer. In 1979, at the age of 34, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"I had three teen-agers, was a manager for the phone company and had been accepted to attend law school," said Wright. "I had watched women live and die from breast cancer."

After surviving cancer two times, Wright has become an advocate for breast cancer awareness. She works for the Northern California Cancer Center as a community educator on various projects designed to educate low—income women about the benefits or regular screenings for breast and cervical cancer.

Wright will speak at 11 a.m. on April 6 at the YWCA's Women's Health Symposium, "Heart, Mind and Spirit." It is free but participants must call 742-0075 on or before April 6 to make reservations.

Wright will talk about her experiences with cancer and how managed to pay medical bills while on welfare and then was diagnosed with breast cancer, said Nicole Baker, the Women's Cancer Program director at the YWCA.

Wright will also speak at an art exhibit inspired by the experiences of cancer victims and their families at 2 p.m. April 7 at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette.

"The artists have either had cancer or experienced it through a relative," said Graeme Reid, the curator at the museum.

"I am a community educator," said Wright. "My work is to tell women about early detection and then to recruit them to join me as an advocate/activist."

Wright also serves on the boards of directors of the Breast Cancer Fund and the Women's Cancer Resource Center. At the center, she facilitates a support group and does housework and shopping for women with cancer.

As a member of the fund, she organizes environmental campaigns, helps plan and participates in the work of high-profile campaigns such as ART.RAGE.US, the Mount Fuji Climb and the controversial billboards featuring women without breasts.

In California, Wright worked with poet and author Maya Angelou and the California Department of Health to create a program for early detection of breast cancer. Wright was included in a feature story in MAMM Magazine as one of the "50 Who Make a Difference."

"I am humbled to be on that list because there are thousands doing as much or more than I am," she said.

Wright also donates much of her time as an activist from an artistic platform. She writes poetry and founded a theatrical troupe with her husband, Charles.

"I write to ease my pain and to tell others about the experience," she said.

Her poetry has appeared in the ART.RAGE.US exhibit in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Two of her plays were performed by the theatrical troupe at the Pegasus Theater in Oxford, England. One of the pieces explores the impact of a breast cancer diagnosis on a woman's family. The other highlights the challenges facing a single woman looking for romance after breast cancer surgery.

Wright gives some suggestions to women who might not know the approach to take when dealing with the detection and prevention of breast cancer.

"Get to know your breasts, give yourself exams, get clinical breast exams when you get your annual pap smear," she advises. It is also important for women to know their family history.

When dealing with breast cancer, which is, according to the American Cancer Society, the most common cancer among women, Wright urges people to listen more and talk less.

"You don't know how it feels," she said. "Be loving, do something like cook a meal for the family, take the kids out for a fun day or clean the house while she's at the doctor. Tell her about a support group, do some research so you can understand what her body is going through."

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