“Genetics loads the gun but environment pulls the trigger.”
Dr. Judith S. Stern, University of California, Davis, Department of Nutrition

Sara Williams found her calling through a most circuitous, albeit traumatic, path. She felt a lump in her left breast one summer morning in 1997 and then waited until November to see a doctor. The diagnosis was breast cancer. “Perhaps I was in denial, or maybe I thought the lump would just go away. It was simply unfathomable that it could be cancer,” she recalled. “I thought of those people I saw enter the cancer wing at UNC Hospital [The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill] every day and how much I pitied them. I walked through those [same] doors as a patient in December 1997 to eventually face surgery, four months of chemotherapy, five weeks of radiation and five years of Tamoxifen.”

Williams, a native of Hickory, North Carolina, is a breast cancer survivor and the Recruitment Coordinator for a groundbreaking research project called The Sister Study. This study is a long-term research project established to investigate the genetic and environmental risk factors for this disease. The study is funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health. Study participants are women between the ages of 35 and 74 who have sisters with breast cancer.

L-R: Cat Andrews, Sara Williams, Lourdes Suarez discussing the Area Captain training manual for Sister Study field volunteers.

“All of us who’ve been through breast cancer want to see the eradication of this disease. This study really spoke to me because it will examine, not only the genetic, but for the first time, the environmental risk factors for breast cancer. I believe, like so many breast cancer survivors I’ve known and talked with, that there may be an environmental link to our disease. When I was growing up in Hickory…I remember my mother telling me how fortunate I was to have inherited good genes…when I was diagnosed with…cancer…there was no history of [it] in my family. I often ponder Dr. Susan Love’s statement that ‘you can inherit perfectly good genes and something in the environment can come along and screw them up.’ I was a breast cancer advocate waiting to happen.”

Williams graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Religion in 1973 and an M.A. in Medical Geography in 1980. She married her high school sweetheart, Hank Williams, Jr., and has two adult children. She has been with the Sister Study Project since January 2001.

“…I remember my son asking me if I was going to die.
‘We’re all going to die,’ I told him
‘but I’m not going to die from breast cancer.’

…Although I knew absolutely nothing about breast cancer, which is the most diagnosed and second deadliest form of cancer among American women, I knew I had two choices: to learn and grow or wither and die. I chose the former…After my diagnosis, I got really involved in research…Recruitment means big awareness about the study and it means working closely with those people who are in the field…they’re usually advocates [and] breast cancer survivors themselves. It really helps to be passionate about the study, which I am…One of the biggest goals of the study is getting women of color involved…People have to feel that you believe in the study…

If every woman in the study looked like me, white, middle-aged and well educated, we’ll keep learning what we already know. I think a person in this position cannot be shy or timid –I’ve walked the walk and I believe in the study. We’re committed to getting information that will help all women…Having my own sister participate in this critically important research is a testament to our commitment to, and belief in, this effort…to unravel the mystery of this disease that kills over 40,000 women in our country every year.”

The Sister Study Project was officially launched in September 2003. “I believe firmly that the study will be a success, and my vision is that we will learn many new things which will eventually let us bid a fond farewell to breast cancer. I’ll be happy to say goodbye to breast cancer…I’ve watched too many wonderful women die from this dreaded disease. It is my greatest hope that women from all walks of life – because breast cancer knows no boundaries – will participate in this research so that we can find new answers.”

Learn more about the Sister Study Project; visit their website at www.sisterstudy.org. The Sister Study is currently enrolling eligible women from four states: Arizona, Florida, Missouri, and Rhode Island.

National enrollment, including for women living in North Carolina, will begin later this summer. Women are free to register their contact information now by calling 1-877-4-SISTER (1-877-474-7837)."

“Sharing my story…and increasing awareness about the importance of this new…research…is predicated on the fact that maybe in me others can find…a glimmer of hope for themselves…Breast cancer has given me an… opportunity to meet some of the most fascinating people of my life…”

- Sara Williams, breast cancer survivor, passionate advocate, and Sister Study Recruitment Coordinator, in her own words.

A note from the publisher:
How can you generate awareness about this groundbreaking research study?
Click here to download the pdf flyer, send it out to your network of friends and family and ask them to do the same. You can help be a part of the breast cancer solution.