After a Double Mastectomy, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings Is Not Giving Up
The congressional candidate speaks out on her preventative measure and breast cancer among Black women
You may be familiar with the statistic that one in eight women will face a breast cancer diagnosis during her lifetime. That figure has even greater consequences for Black women in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer as compared to White women and are more likely to be diagnosed at an early age and when the cancer is at an advanced stage. All of this is further compounded by the documented racial bias that Black women face from medical professionals when they seek treatment.
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, widow of Rep. Elijah Cummings and current candidate for U.S. Congress, was no stranger to those grim statistics. Near the end of last year, based on a family history of breast cancer, she made the decision to undergo a prophylactic mastectomy: The removal of the breasts despite no presence of breast cancer.
As the fellow daughter of a breast cancer survivor who made a similar choice five years ago, I wanted to speak with Cummings about how she came to her decision, the importance of discussing health with friends and family, and her future plans to advocate for Black women’s health.
ZORA: What impact has breast cancer had on your life, and how did you come to the decision to have surgery?
Maya Rockeymoore Cummings: So about 12 years ago, I found a lump in one of my breasts. They did a biopsy, and the lump was ultimately diagnosed as fatty tissue. However, they also found that I had lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS). [Editor’s note: LCIS is a condition in which abnormal cells form in the milk glands of the breast. LCIS is not cancer, but being diagnosed with LCIS is an indicator of an increased risk for developing breast cancer.] I mentioned it to my mom and sister, but we treated it as a curiosity and moved on. My doctor recommended that I start taking Tamoxifen, [a medication that has been shown to lower the risk of breast cancer in high-risk women] but I couldn’t do so…
