R&B legend Mary J. Blige and the First Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, have teamed up to take on cancer prevention. The two women were spotted together on Monday at a cancer screening event in collaboration with the American Cancer Society to announce national meetings on breast and cervical cancer.
Breast cancer is a leading cancer for women and it is the number one cause of death among Black and Latino women. More than 14,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year, resulting in more than 4,000 deaths, according to Karen Knudsen who is the CEO of the American Cancer Society.
The singer says she has lost aunts and other family members to various forms of cancer and now she is using her personal experiences as a means to promote breast cancer screening. They are taking a special interest in Black women, who are disproportionately affected, through the Black Women’s Health Imperative.
President Joe Biden and the first lady relaunched the “cancer moonshot” initiative this year. The program aims to provide more money for research and as the First Lady noted that the initiative is supposed to “help us end cancer as we know it. For good.”
Blige attributes the lack of information and misconceptions about mammograms to the loss of her relatives and other Black women. The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul added that if they were informed, “they would have a different outcome today.”
The event did bring up a lot of emotions, as Blige could be seen being comforted by Dr. Biden. The Bidens also have their own cancer experiences.
The two lost their adult son, Beau, back in 2015 to brain cancer. The administration’s cancer initiative will even take steps to help encourage collaboration, assist with providing the best care and invest in new treatments and therapies.
More events are expected to take place throughout the week. The American Cancer Society said the roundtables will be an opportunity for doctors, scientists and other professionals to come together and begin the work needed to start making progress in the fight against cancer.
The Grammy Award-winning songstress was thanked by First Lady Biden for lending her voice to the cause during the meeting.
