http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_226_Lets_Talk.mp3 Brenda Muckelvene survived breast cancer. Now she talks to women everywhere she goes - church, the beauty salon - about the importance of mammograms. Plone 2.0 http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_226_Lets_Talk.mp3/logo.jpg http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_226_Lets_Talk.mp3 <h4>Let's Talk</h4><p class="imageleft"><img class="image-left" src="resolveuid/2cb39fd5436054895a1d199150b51d39" alt="Brenda then" height="100" width="100" />Brenda Muckelvene during cancer treatments</p><p>Despite all the research and pink ribbon campaigns, breast cancer remains the leading cause of cancer in American women.  Close to one quarter of the women who get breast cancer will die from it, and African American women are particularly at risk.</p><p>A little over two years ago, Brenda Muckelvene found a lump in her breast. Her experience with the treatment and recovery was frightening at times. One of the hardest parts was losing her hair -- Brenda had been a hair stylist. <br /></p><p class="imageleft"><img class="image-left" src="resolveuid/f32cf458df758e23187d8e8f78c5e1ff" alt="Brenda and granddaughter" height="100" width="100" />Brenda with her granddaughter, Aiyana<br /></p><p>The timing was also a challenge -- everything happened during basketball season, and two of Brenda's children, Rashad and Rashonda McCants, were star players at UNC.</p><p>Brenda talks with Dick Gordon about how she got through her experience with breast cancer -- and she takes him on the road to a beauty parlor in Durham where she talks to women about the importance of getting regular mammograms. Since her experience, Brenda has become so dedicated to talking with women about cancer that it has become a kind of mission.</p><p class="imageleft"><img class="image-left" src="resolveuid/66d3cc14cbd35100a3c9194c33e46e25" alt="Funmi Olopade" height="100" width="100" />Funmi Olopade</p><p>Dick also talks with Funmi Olopade, a Nigerian-born cancer researcher at the University of Chicago, and a 2005 winner of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Dr. Olopade focuses on why so many young African and African American women get breast cancer.</p><ul><li>Learn more about cancer groups Brenda works with, the <a href="http://www.sistersnetworkinc.org/" target="_self">Sisters Network</a> and <a href="http://www.connect.unc.edu/Newsletters/Volume%203%20Issue%202revised%20for%20NPR.pdf" target="_self">On Our Terms</a><br /></li><li>Learn more about <a href="http://www.bcrfcure.org/rese_meet_funmi.html" target="_self">Funmi Olopade's work</a><br /></li></ul><p><a title="Add To This Story" class="addbtn" href="resolveuid/cc2a8297b6c0d5c86538f03c46448d35" target="_self">Add to story</a></p><h4>What a coincidence!</h4><p><a href="../graphics/astrogirls7.jpg/image_view" target="_self"><img class="image-left" src="../graphics/3astro.jpg" alt="Jane Moran, Rachel Rosen and Maggie Eftamova" height="100" width="100" /></a>Only 25 percent of women in science study astronomy. Dick talks with future astronomers Jane Moran, Rachel Rosen and Maggie Eftamova. These scientists find themselves turning to astrology to explain a very strange coincidence. [<a href="../graphics/astrogirls7.jpg/image_view" target="_self">click</a> thumbnail left for larger image of the students being interviewed by Dick.]</p><a></a><a title="Add To This Story" class="addbtn" href="resolveuid/cc2a8297b6c0d5c86538f03c46448d35" target="_self">Add to story</a><br /> Brenda Muckelvene breast cancer Wed, 11 Apr 2007 05:00:00