By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Bridgette Hempstead, a breast cancer survivor, advocate, and founder of Cierra Sisters, has left a legacy behind that continues to inspire health care advocates, patients, and the community that she supported and served without hesitation.
Hempstead, who recently passed away at the age of 63, dedicated her life to empowering African American and underserved communities in the fight against breast cancer. Her journey began in 1996, following her own diagnosis at the age of 35, when she recognized a critical gap in support and awareness for Black women facing breast cancer—which led her to establish Cierra Sisters, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization aimed at providing education, support, and advocacy for African American women navigating the complexities of cancer.
Hempstead’s eldest daughter, Dee Scott, reflects on her mother’s unwavering commitment, even during her final days. The message was clear, as she urged Scott and her siblings to keep fighting and to be a strong voice and advocate for those who don’t know how to fully advocate for themselves when it comes to health care and dealing with the health care system.
“The two charges I would say that she left with us was to fight and to live out the wishes of loved ones that are in their last days as well,” Scott said. “We asked her, ‘How are you? Do you want to be on morphine?’ And she said, ‘No, I want you guys to fight.’ So, she really left us with the charge as we are navigating through Cierra Sisters to really be an advocate for our community.”
“What we discovered in mom’s final stages was that a lot of times the health care system wants to create the narrative that they are doing what they think is in the best interest of the patient, but the reality is that the patient has a choice and a say in the matter, and that is what we need to respect,” added Scott.
For Hempstead, her breast cancer diagnosis in 1996 was not only a wake-up call but a call to action, which prompted her to found Cierra Sisters—a breast cancer support group for Black women.
“When she was diagnosed [at 35], my mother recognized that she wanted to raise her children and be here for her kids, and make sure that everybody learned about cancer research,” Scott said. “When she first got rejected for a mammogram before her diagnosis, she realized that if that was the narrative for her—that breast cancer is not in the Black community—then that was probably the story of other women that looked like her.”
“And so, she felt the junction or the commitment with Cierra Sisters,” she added.
A woman of many titles—activist, founder, mentor, teacher, mother, grandmother, cousin, sister, and friend—Hempstead’s advocacy went far beyond focusing on breast cancer, as she shed a bright light on the racism that exists within the healthcare system as a whole. Collaborating with institutions like Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, she worked tirelessly to highlight and combat the disparities faced by Black patients in oncology. Her efforts included organizing luncheons where healthcare professionals, including the CEO of Fred Hutch, listened to firsthand accounts of systemic racism experienced by patients.
“Man, she was doing a lot. First of all, she was the conduit to a lot of Cierra Sisters, bringing them to Fred Hutch, and was able to get treatment through them. The other thing was she collaborated with the ‘former’—and I use that word non-loosely—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive portion of Fred Hutch to bring awareness to racism in oncology,” said Scott. “We did a luncheon on that very notion, and not only brought in the Fred Hutch oncologist and the DEI committee, but the CEO of Fred Hutch, and he got to sit and listen to the stories of these women and how the systemic racism in oncology has shaped their experience.”
Recognizing the broader implications of her advocacy, Hempstead expanded Cierra Sisters’ mission to encompass various types of cancer. She partnered with specialists across different fields, emphasizing a holistic approach to health and well-being. Her collaborations aimed to address the unique challenges faced by African American patients, ensuring they received comprehensive care and support.
“She opened up her Rolodex to not just oncologists who have specialties in breast cancer and raised awareness for the different types of cancers,” Scott said.
“We began to move to a holistic approach, and whole-body approach, but our main focus was still metastasized breast cancer,” she added.
Scott believes that, above all, Hempstead had great joy in watching her community go from a hopeless space to a hopeful space, and seeing how the research that she has done has helped either save or prolong the lives of many women.
“At my mom’s memorial service, to have women come up to us and tell us, ‘Because of your mom, she insisted on a second opinion and actually found that this was a different type of cancer, and it saved my life,’” Scott recalled. “So, after hearing that, I think she helped our community change from what seemed to be a hopeless space to a very hopeful ‘you can do it’ space. There are other options, and you don’t quit until you decide to.”
Going through Hempstead’s breast cancer journey, Scott said that the two biggest things that she and her siblings have taken away from it is to take their health seriously and listen to their bodies.
“She [Hempstead] said the Lord woke her up and told her to go get a mammogram before she was first diagnosed. And then, she went, and the doctors told her she didn’t need one because a Black woman rarely gets breast cancer or at all, and that she could come back when she was 50,” Scott said. “And so, mom listened to her body, and that is one of the things that my sisters and I are probably more conscious about because we have walked this dance with mom for 28 years.”
“Number one, we have learned to take our health seriously and to really listen to our bodies. If something is wrong, go in and get it checked out, and mom always insisted on that,” she continued.
Even though the landscape of breast cancer awareness, detection, and treatment has evolved over the years, disparities still exist, especially in the Black community.
“I think globally the gap between us and breast cancer is not closing yet. But, with organizations such as Cierra Sisters, we realize that we still have work to do to close those gaps,” Scott said.
Source: Seattle Medium
