Philadelphia cancer survivor's story sheds light on persisting racial disparities in new report

Surviving cancer often depends on early detection with screenings like mammograms, but a biennial report from the Association for Cancer Research says access remains an issue for people of color.

Philadelphia native Janaylon Wright, 33, was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer when she was just 29 years old.

"I was extremely shocked. I was more shocked when I found out it was Stage 3," Wright said.

She says it took months to get the diagnosis. Her symptoms of lower abdominal pain and constipation were either dismissed or blamed on female issues by several different doctors.

"I was getting bounced around and pushed off the door and overlooked multiple times based off the fact that I was 29, or based off of the facts that I am an African-American woman," she said.

Wright is featured in the latest Cancer Disparities Progress Report from the American Association for Cancer Research, sharing her story to illustrate how racial disparities affected her path to receiving proper cancer treatment. The report says there's been progress, but minorities, along with people who are poor and uneducated, still face higher death rates.

Wright was not properly diagnosed until she met with doctors at Jefferson Hospital, who told her that if the cancer had been detected earlier, less aggressive treatment may have been possible.

According to the report, Janaylon's experience reflects broader challenges in how symptoms are interpreted and treated in women, especially in Black women.

Dr. John Carethers, who worked on the new report, says educating patients and doctors about inequities helps to reduce them.

"Some of the biggest drivers for that are just socioeconomic and access," Carethers said. "It makes me feel better that we're making incremental progress, but we have a long way to go."

"It is extremely frustrating and not just for me, for all people of color, women especially," Wright said.

Wright has recovered from the colon cancer surgery and finished chemotherapy. She says until there's more equality in how patients are treated, people need to advocate for themselves.

"If it wasn't for me being as persistent and my family being as persistent as we were. I probably would not be standing here right now," she said.

Now, along with being a cancer survivor, Wright is on her way to becoming a first-time mother.