NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – The “Walk to End Breast and Gynecologic Cancer” is Sunday at 2 p.m. near Waterside in Norfolk.
The final day of the Seasoned Women’s Health Summit kicked off with an inspirational breakfast.
“This is the day that the Lord has made,” said Dr. Gail Henderson, mother of Project Nana Founder Vanessa Hill.
‘We are not invisible’: Post-menopausal women invited to health summit
Josephine Latham, a Bertie County native, is attending the Seasoned Women’s Health Summit with her two sisters who live in Hampton.
Latham traveled from Indiana for the event.
“I am a four-time metastatic breast cancer survivor,” said Latham. “I stand before you at 76 years and 10 months old. I think it’s important for me to show seasoned women that you can make it through the disease, and you can continue with a vibrant life!”
The longtime Mary Kay consultant said some women can shut down after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
“They become stagnant,” Latham said. “They feel like life is over. It is not a death sentence. It’s a disease that can be handled like anything else.”
In February 2009, Latham was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer after her husband found a lump in her breast. Over the years, her parents and her husband passed away while she battled her cancer returning and spreading several times.
“My breast cancer journey has been long. In 2015, it metastasized to my lung. First, they thought I had lung cancer, but then they decided it was the metastasization from the breast cancer. They went in in my back, then cut off a piece of my right lung. I went back through chemo and radiation again, and I did some immunotherapy,” said Latham.
She got a second opinion, a breast reduction and lost weight.
“Don’t think that it wasn’t painful,” Latham adds. “There were some treatments that were very painful. There was sometimes some doubt. But I remember my sister Irene said to me, ‘Where is your faith?'”
Now, she plans to help Project Nana expand to help even more women move the message.
“I love that Vanessa came up with Project Nana, because I am a nana! They call me Mama Jo,” said Latham. “I want to form a chapter in Indiana, because I want people to know what it’s like to go through it, but how much help there is. And also, to remove the bias that medical [workers] have about this, because there’s a lot of bias. It depends on what you can afford sometimes … Project Nana is a great organization to help women.”
Latham has been cancer free since 2015 and said she signs everything “be busy living.”
“Because if you’re not busy living, you’re busy dying,” Latham said.
Sept. 9 through Sept. 14, is “Take Nana to the Doctor week” a movement to encourage family members to be an advocate for women post-menopause.
To learn more visit Project Nana Inc.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.
