Beyond the Diagnosis: Birmingham Organizations Supporting Breast Cancer Patients and Survivors

By Monique Jones | For the Birmingham Times

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an important and sobering time to celebrate breast cancer survivors, honor the memories of those who have passed away, and promote awareness about early detection, symptoms and ways to help fight against the disease.

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer death in women.

According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), one in eight U.S. women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime; 382,640 women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2026. The foundation estimates that 42,140 women will die from the illness this year.

Black women need to be the most vigilant when it comes to breast cancer and breast health. Black women are 38 percent more likely to die from the disease than white women and have the lowest survival rate for every known stage of the illness. One in five Black women with breast cancer are diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is not only harder to treat than other types, but Black women are diagnosed with TNBC at higher rates than any other racial or ethnic group.

That said, there is a lot to be hopeful about. Currently, there are over four million breast cancer survivors living in the U.S., and 66 percent of breast cancer cases are diagnosed at a localized stage, meaning it is the easiest to treat. The five-year relative survival rate for early-stage breast cancer is over 99 percent, meaning breast cancer can be one of the most survivable types of cancers as long as it is caught early enough. Earlier this year, Alabama House Bill 300, which eliminates out-of-pocket costs, deductibles, and copayments for medically necessary follow-up breast cancer diagnostic imaging, passed the Alabama Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey.

Several organizations in Birmingham and throughout the state are working to reverse the troubling statistics related to breast cancer and strive to help breast cancer patients throughout the state and region have better outcomes and higher quality of life during and after treatment.

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA) was founded in 1996 after Dolly O’Neal and Bruce Sokol met at UAB’s O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. According to the foundation, O’Neal was an 18-month breast cancer survivor, while Sokol was supporting his wife, who was receiving breast cancer treatment. They both wanted to take action against breast cancer, and together, O’Neal and Sokol created the foundation to fight against the disease through fundraising.

The BCRFA’s research grants are used to “recruit and retain world-class breast cancer researchers, support research projects to help identify and treat breast cancer and encourage collaboration among researchers helping to eradicate the disease,” according to the foundation. The money the foundation raised–adding up to $17 million in total–funds crucial research to find answers. Just last year, the foundation invested $1.2 million in 25 breast cancer research projects across the state at eight partner institutes: Alabama State University (Montgomery), Auburn University (Auburn), CerFlux (Birmingham), HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (Huntsville), Tuskegee University (Tuskegee), Mitchell Cancer Institute at the University of South Alabama (Mobile), O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB (Birmingham) and the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa).

According to the foundation, breast cancer death rates have declined 43 percent between 1989 and 2020, with improved early detection, research and increased awareness as factors. But still, the stats regarding Black women’s survival rate remain. The foundation cites a lack of diversity in clinical trials and differences in access and quality of medical care also contributing to Black women’s outcomes.

That’s why the research the foundation is funding, such as UAB’s studies on the role of biomechanical regulation in triple negative breast cancer and the effects of certain drugs to block certain enzymes and proteins to treat triple negative breast cancer, is so important. Other studies at partner institutes are also tackling the issues around triple-negative breast cancer as well as other aspects of breast cancer treatment and survival.

Learn more at bcrfa.org.

Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center

Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center in Birmingham helps not just the greater Birmingham area, but all of Alabama and Mississippi.

Meg Pace Lovett, Forge’s vice president of communications and development, said the organization began after a 2014 study by the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham’s Women’s Breast Health Fund highlighted the lack of support and resources for breast cancer survivors.

“They found that there are some great organizations that do detection and can help you get mammograms, and we’ve got great research nonprofits both locally and nationally that are making huge strides in breast cancer treatments,” said Lovett. “But there was really nothing for patients and survivors.”

Forge began as a pilot project in 2016, working with local hospitals like UAB, Ascension St. Vincent’s, Grandview, and Brookwood. The goal, Lovett said, was to create a project “that will help patients once they’re diagnosed and then on through the rest of life, [with] whatever they need in breast cancer survivorship.” By 2020, the project became incorporated as a non-profit, Forge Survivorship Center.

Forge provides patients and survivors gas cards to help them reach their appointments, grocery cards for fresh food, nutrition counseling, therapy access, group support, and help with mastectomy bras, breast prosthetics, and wigs. Other programs include dance and yoga classes, as well as a hardship fund providing patients with $1,500 a year to help pay for essentials like power and mortgage bills.

Help for Mississippi

In 2025, Forge expanded its services to Mississippi. Forge’s expansion is fueled by the statistics facing Alabama and Mississippi women: Alabama and Mississippi have the highest breast cancer mortality rates in the country, despite breast cancer being a largely survivable illness.

Lovett addressed the national statistics facing Black women and breast cancer, adding that because Alabama and Mississippi have large Black populations, the mortality rates reflect the worrying trend. She also said lack of resources contributes to the high mortality rates.

“Our two states have a large population who are impoverished, and another part is we’re two states who are very rural,” said Lovett. “If you don’t live in an urban center like Birmingham, Mobile, Jackson [MS], it can be really hard to access cancer care in your home community.

“You’re either traveling really far to even get to your annual screenings, much less a treatment,” she continued. “So rural Americans tend to be diagnosed in a later stage of breast cancer just because it requires so much more effort to go for your annual screenings. Breast cancer is one of those rare cancers that can be screened for annually, but that doesn’t make a difference if you don’t have a mammography unit in your county, which is the case for a lot of counties in Alabama and Mississippi.”

“We have world-class healthcare in Birmingham, some of the world’s best NCI [National Cancer Institute] comprehensive cancer centers. But that doesn’t matter if you can’t afford time off to go get that treatment,” she said.

Forge’s expansion into Mississippi is also personal for Lovett.  As a Mississippi native, Lovett said she’s “intimately aware of the challenges of living there and the challenges of being sick and living there.”

“My little sister is a breast cancer survivor in Jackson, Mississippi. And there was nothing like Forge when she went through her diagnosis and treatment,” Lovett continued. “Fortunately or unfortunately, we had a first cousin in Mississippi who had also gone through breast cancer, and so that kind of became her peer support that we now offer at Forge to Mississippians.”

Haute Pink

One of the ways Forge raises funds and awareness is through its yearly marquee event, Haute Pink. Held at the Red Mountain Theater, Haute Pink is a fashion show featuring 10 women who have been impacted by breast cancer in some way, whether they are newly diagnosed or are survivors. They model custom designs created by Birmingham-area designers, with each design reflecting the women’s stories.

“Anybody who comes in the door at Haute Pink who is a breast cancer patient or survivor is given a pink boa to wear around the event. There’s a point in the show where our executive director, Lauren Roberts, asks everyone in the audience who’s there wearing a pink boa, who’s a patient or a survivor, to stand up. And the room is filled with hundreds of people with pink boas on,” said Lovett.

“It’s so impactful when you see all those survivors standing up who are one year, five years, 10 years, 30 years out from their breast cancer diagnosis and thriving and living their life and doing the things they want to do,” she continued. “It’s really inspiring, it’s really energizing for our staff, and I think it’s energizing for the medical providers who are in the room. I think it’s probably a pretty heavy job to treat those with cancer every day, and I think it’s really great for them to be able to see that as well.”

Learn more at forgeon.org.

Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies

Founded in 2010 by Brenda Phillips-Hong, Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies (BBBB) is another Birmingham-based organization working to raise awareness and help those affected by breast cancer live longer and better lives. BBBB provides health forums for Birmingham’s districts to help participants learn about breast cancer, diabetes, mental health, and healthy lifestyle tips. Along with raising awareness, BBBB gives breast cancer patients free rides to appointments and free mammograms through UAB and Brookwood. The organization also provides house cleanings and other services to make life easier for the entire family affected by breast cancer.

BBBB was created as a support group for Black women who were breast cancer survivors. Later, Phillips-Hong expanded it to include “outreach, awareness, and early detection programs for underserved communities,” according to the organization.

The expansion also spread to the organization’s signature event, its annual Sistah Strut walk/run/ride/stroll, held at Legion Field every September.

As Phillips-Hong told The Birmingham Times in 2025, “To be clear, ‘sistahs’ are not defined by race or even gender. It’s about a shared spirit, attitude and intent to celebrate breast cancer survivors and raise awareness and money to promote breast cancer screenings and early detection.”

This year’s ambassador for the Sistah Strut was Birmingham-area lawyer Meredith Carpenter.

“I was just really over the moon and touched that they would give me this honor,” Carpenter said about representing the event, which was held in late September.

“It is one of the most fun events that I have ever participated in, in all of my years of participating in breast cancer events,” she said. “I’ve been doing breast cancer events and runs and activities long before I ever even thought that I would be a survivor. There’s something special about this event because it’s like a family reunion…It’s just so special to see all of the pink and you have people that range from newly diagnosed to active chemo to maybe being a survivor for 20 or 25 years. To see that spectrum of power all together in one place and have those around that have been their support system…there’s really nothing like it and I don’t know another event that is that way.”

“Miss Brenda is phenomenal,” she continued. “I’ve known her for several years and through different organizations and events, on top of the Sistah Strut. And knowing what Miss Brenda stands for and the work that she’s done over the years that Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies has been in existence, and to just have even thought that I could be a small part of that is just humbling. …It’s an honor that I really don’t take lightly.”

Early Detection is Key

Carpenter began participating with the Sistah Strut a few years ago through a race team of lawyers and judges called Team Sisters in Law. Carpenter is a nine-year breast cancer survivor and an eight-year cervical cancer survivor. She said her involvement with the race “means everything.”

“Awareness and support are critical when you are facing [a new diagnosis] or facing the potential of the diagnosis,” she said. “Just having the support of others, support of this organization, and not feeling alone is such an important piece to success, as well as having this access to mammograms and other services that Brenda’s Brown Bosom Buddies provides. It helps tremendously because early detection is key. If cancer can be detected early, there is a much stronger survival rate.”

That’s why Carpenter stressed the importance of paying attention to changes in your body, getting proper screenings, and following up when necessary.

“If ever a doctor after a mammogram or Pap smear or anything says, ‘Hey, we see something suspicious,’ please make sure you go in and you follow up and get subsequent testing,” she said. “Because in a 14-month period, I got breast cancer and cervical cancer — unrelated, very early-stage diagnoses. But had I not gone for my screenings and then gone back for my follow-up, I would’ve had a very different story.”

Caring for the Whole Person

She also applauded BBBB and other organizations that aim to take care of the whole person.

“As a cancer survivor, that is the best thing that someone can do is to continue to see the person and not just the cancer,” she said. “…I think once someone’s diagnosed, it’s so easy, not only for the patient, but for all of those around them…to just see the cancer. So organizations and people that continue to focus on the whole person is huge because I think that is where you can give someone the most empowerment is to help them remember that they are a person outside of just cancer.”

Carpenter called being a part of the broader coalition of organizations helping Alabama’s breast cancer patients and survivors “humbling.”

“I’m not often at a loss for words because I’m a lawyer–I talk for a living, right? But learning that I have been chosen for this ambassador honor this year, I’m humbled. If you had told 2017 Meredith, who was just diagnosed, that nine years later, the thing that I thought would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me would lead me into places that are the biggest blessings that could have ever happened to me, I would not have believed it.”

Learn more at wearebbbb.org.