from loangeles, i amtavis smiley. tonight, a uniqueookt the issue of breast canc, including be directly strain of the disease. dr. olufunmilayo olopade specializes in trle-breast caner at the university of chicago medical center. then we will be joid by two courageous women whose lives have en impacted by breast cancr, diahann carroll and author jessica queller,uthor of theemoir, "pretty is what changes." that iscoming up right now. >> there e so many things that wal-mart isooking forward to doing, like helping peopleive better. but mostly, we're helping build strongerommunities and relationships. with your hel the best is yet to cme.

>> nationwide insuranc prdly supports "tas smiley." tav and nationwide, working together timprove financial literacy and e economic empowerment that comes wi it. >> ♪ nationwide is on your se ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from vieweike you. thank you [captioning ma possible by kcepublic television] tavis: last month, my longtime producer and dear friend los her two-ye battle with breast cancer at the young age of 42. sh was afflicted of the strain of the disease known as trle negative, whichdisperse charge

which disproportionately fects african american wome dr. olufunmilayo olopade specializ i this and jos us from the universityof chicago. welcome to therogram. >thank you for havg me. tavis: let me ask you about the work you dopecifically, and thai want to ask you about triple negative. >> tis, i am aedical oncolist. i treat women with breast cancer. about 15 years ago, itecame clear to me that we needed to d more worto prevent breast canc. so i deloped a cancer risk assesentrogram, whe we wanted to ha women come and talk to us about their family hiory o breast cancer or any other rk factors they yave so we uldelp them devop strategieso reduce their risk of dying from breast cancer.

my inteest is ieally trying to understa whetr women have inhited genes that we can test for, and by testing for those genes identified tho with the highest risk over the courof the 15 years, we have co to reale that the are in facsomeenes that produce breast cancer. we have studied famies, and i can tellou when we have entified women withhese genes, when they have come in to do preventative strategies to prevent dying from breast cancer, we he seen great success. at has been fstrating is when we see young women like cheryl who at 40 did not have a strong family history, didnot have anyeason tget breast cancer, and isovercome with a

adly form of the disease. it is very disappointing to us. tt is really got us to focus whetherhere are differces between populatio in terms of t types of breast cancer thathey get. because w work on the south side of chago, we see a diverse population of women. one ofhe thingse found is that blacwomen were getting this type of triple native breast cancer muchore commonly th their white counrparts. tavis: why is that? doou know as yet? >> tt is the million-dollar question. the st conversation i had wi cheryl, she was anducated, wel trained, very knowledgeable woman, and she developed a triple negative breast cancer, which is aggressive. prior to the time we starte

dng this work, it was alys thoughthe reashy it black women were dyg disproportionely was because ey had no insurance and no acce. butwhat our work has found is that itis really a collision of difrences, cancer that gws ery fast ad young women who are not expected toet breast cancer. for the longest time, the face of breast canceris an older wte women with breast cancer. it is really wen we started studyi different pas of the population, when back woman starte comingorward to particate in theresearch that weegan to identi that breast cancerdoes not affect women th same way. there is a lot of work we have to do. tavis: what your sense of the kind of energy, the kind of effort, theresources that are being put in to baden this field of study?

not unlike th cse years o, with hiv aids, we thoht it was a gay white mal disease and all the attention wenthat way. we now know fferently, it is killing all kinds of diffent people. what isour sense of how we are doing now, expanding th conversation about breast cance beyond a partilar group to include wom of color? >> forward. that is why i wanted to come, because we ne to get the word out. we need to talkbout is, the sucesses we have hadn treating east cancer. we still ve challenges. challenges like the type of breast canr that cheryl has which growsast and can rapidly become aggressi. because it affects black women n a way that is different i think we need to gethe word

out there. when a yng black woman feels a mp, instead of blowing it off and say, i am too young to get breast cancer, they need to run in find doctor. it is not just black womewho develop trip netive. a woman can develop this te of breast canc. that is wh we emphasize that we all have to com together cannot say that breascancer isurableow, so let's not worry about i. we have to find out what the dierent types of breast cancers are, how it affects people from different race, etnic backgrounds, and weave to get black women to beme a little bitore engaged ithe resource -- inhe research process so we can study more of them and they will beco part of the solution. tavis:how does this

conversation fnto the larger conversation about healt care for all americans? >>t is very important to ecause i work on the south side of chago, and it is amazing how many wom without nsurance, through our emergency room to be treated for brst cancer. often, it is too late by the time the sh up in the emergcy room. if womenwho are high rsk can getccess to famil care doctors or a familyoctor who will know about their history, i have wen whoseother died of breast cancer d they justit there, waiting to ge breast ancer because they have no insurance they ju gradued out of colge. i think is important to begin to get everyone to have access to family care. we as oncologist the need to work with family care doors to train tem on how to identify

inividuals who are at high risk, because breastancer, if we catch it early, is still curable. tavis: you are o of the leang experts on breast cancer, focusinspecifically on what killed oudear friend eryl flowers. her name is d olufunmilayo olode. thk you for joining us on the program and sharing your insights. -- thank you r joining us on he program and shing your insights up next, a personal look a breast canr withdiahann carroll andessica queller stay with us. we continue our lo at th issue of breastancer. i am pleased tbe joined by two courageous women. jessica queller isn accomplished tv wrer whose ok is currently out call "pretty is whhanges."

and als diahann carroll. if you have not pickup a copy of per terrifi memoir, it is called "theegs are the last to go." as jathan puts his camera on er legs, you will see why. u>> and my ideas? tavis: yes. -- >> am i obvious? >> tavis: yes. it is nice to see yo the lt timyou were on this show,e started off talking abt our beloved frnd, chel flows. would not be on the pbs it was not for her. it was the succe of our radio program on npr that ma his tv

show possibl we last talked about her battle with breast cancer, and we have commied, all of us, for the rest of our liv to use this plform as often as we c to talk about thi issue. here we e back again. i am glad to see you. >> i am glad to be here, and i love you for doinghis for cheryl. fo some reason, we go through time where are devoted to raising money and having rearch, and then it disappear we need have more reasons to ing it forward. tavis: how much did it scare y when y were diagnosed? >> tre are no words. it brought me to my nes as soon as heard it -- it brought me to my knee i thk 48 hours later, accepted it w a proper

diagnosi buthat we have associated with that word "canr" a word that comes to mind immediately, and that is death. how does o handle the fact that is might mean the end? u cannot handle that immedialy. that takes ahile. tavis: whathe make of the fa th 10 years now, you are sti here? >> i am lucky. that is the rst thing. the other thing is i like the fact i am part ofn industr that insistshat every job, you must have a complete physical. ttbecame a part of my life very early, recoizing that it was part of my reonsibility to melf as well as the producers that i work for. every year, ery year i had a mammogra. ihink early detecti is the st important thing we c talk

about. i woer always when hear about a vy quick death if there had been at earlie formation that this person had abouthemselves if it would've made a dierence. in my ce, it was very important. tavis: y have friends, certainly people in your circ, who had aess to yo who wa you again going public about your breast cancer because it might harm your ceer? >> yes, i did. at lot people. the names i cann tell you, but some of th arewalking around as timeombs themselves. they realize they have cancer, but what their decion was, particully the women who said this me, is that the industry has a very high stdard of ma believe connect to women -coected to

women. is important you doot have the stigma of anythg that i not healthy or maybe it nattractive. i tught about that for ahile and iaid that isnot going to work for me. i was fortunate enough to have people around me to a forced m to come to my own conclusn, whh was to share it. tav: you sa down in at chairnd met jessica for the first te and you said how amazing her ory was, and it i for wonderful book, "pretty is what changes," tells the story, but jessica aually did not havereast canr. i will letou pick up on that story because it is so fascinating. >> o well, my moer was an extraordinary,xtraordinary woman, and she was blindsided b cancer at the age of 52.

it was que brutal, but she foht with every fiber of her being and she was able to beat the cancer. six yers later she was struck with another primary cancer, arian cancer, and thisime she fght and her will to live was fmidable,ut this time the cancerwas tootrong and e died at thege of 60 my sister and and our father ore witness to this unimaginable hoor and suffering. i amtill hauntedby it daily. one yr after her death, i took a blood test for what is commonly kbown as the breast cancerene, and it was done find out -- ias stunned to fi out carried this genetic mutation. at the time, she di not ow this existe the test results tol me that i had up to 9 chce of gting breast cancer, most likely

before the agef 50, and i was 34 at the time when i took the test. i spt one year soul-searching, researching, speaking to doctors around the country, tryingto figure o what to do. i was told that the gold standard for preventing breast cancer s prophactic double mastectomy a reconstruction. although i was cancer free, i was atistically assured of getting canc, most likely young and a very virulent rain. >> that is a more tou decisio because you did not ha the cancer. >> righ and you are healthy an nobody is telling you you have too for surgy, but i was traumatized and affectedo myoul by this cancer. i decided thai did not want to risk a gamble with this. tavis: you had the surgery? >> i had the surgery, and i am

fine, and am grateful. iad advancedwarning and i fe so lucky. after the surgery, the thology report swed pre-cancers changes in one of my breasts, so i was en route. >> this information about this is retively new, we should make sure that our daughters who have t thought of tha have th information. tavis: speaking of thatjessica says she is fine. she is more than fine you seehis? >> i am pregnant! tas: 6 months? >> and is a girl. -- and it is a girl. tav: l me ask this, is their ar, trepidationabout this? >> absolutely.

there is a lot of fearbout passing thi gene on. there i a t of coroversy and i ha been criticized publicly of people -- i've en criticized publiy by people who think it is t fair to have child whenou have this genetic mutation. >> it is imrtant for you to do. if you find out this is true, you will be able to at an early a effe this. >> it real does not come into play util a woman isn her early 20's, and my doctors have sured me tha scientific advances are moving forward. 25 years from now, god willing, will be a differt climate and different choices. tavis:i am glad to hear about theesearch. we have to eradicate not just breast cancer butll these various forms o cancer that are killing people every day.

whever i hear that somebody has passed awa, the first thing i think isancer. you hear so often they died of this kind of cancerr that kind of cancer. we will do more asong as i am on pbsabout thisssue. i s going to ask, how it makes youfeel andow you respond, what is your response tpeople who say you were not ethical getting pregnant? pmi you can never judgesomebody unless ou are walking in their shoes. -- >>hat you can nver judge somebody unless youre walking in tir shoes. i lived aonderful life unt the age o 34. we are going to continue discover more mutations. everybody will have something. if youstart living your life that y and say i will not hav children because i am afraid the child has a chancof getting ill, will kind of world will we hav

>> we arevery afraid of change. we have to think about the situation in a diffent way. that is hard for many of us. what courage. >> thank u. tavis: diahann carroll, were those people correct aut this impacting your career? >> i cannot say. because of the early detection, my health was very good, even during radiation. i came out of it and went back to taking care of myself. i thk i have de fine. i amhrilled i am working at this age. but, no, i do not think . vis: when you at down and met jessic and heard her say to

you what a rolmodel she is -- >> she is m hero. tavis: i ceto that because you have been a role model to so many wom. you have been a role model to many womn, black and otherwise. you know thisetter than i do -- if breast cancer is a death seence for anybody, statistically is forlack women. when ack won get diagsed, the evidence is very clear they end up dying fm this mu more ofte. yo message to black wome ecifically is what? >> has anyone said why th believe this true? tavis: i am learning aut this

cause what i have learned about what cheryl went through. one of the reasons is early tection. they do not leaed about it rly enough. send, they do not have access to hlth care. to many wen of color did not have access to health ca -- o many women ofolor do t have acce to alth care. and this triple gative is disproportionatelyffecting women o color, trying to figure out why that is so egregious of the bodie of african-american women. >> the fir thing y said about e lack of information incredibly important. uch of what i fnd iny travels, talking twomen about it, fear. aays, fear is the thi that will conqu us ifxwe alw it. that is w it is so intesting

to tral and have these discussions. they have relions with me afte8000 years in the buness, they say, i know her. if she ad it, and it is mportant. i thinkis really difficult to get this information io the blk community. there i information out there. we cannot say iis not out the. you have to go get it tavis: jessica? >> i amo happy and grateful. >>you look like a prett prgnant woman. >> thank you. i would like to take this oppounity to say my mother loved you. we watch together, d she would be so thrille it is poignant forme. my mother just love you. >> it i't that lovely?

that one of theerks of working, hearing storielike that. tas: and also bei able to have the kind of integrity and credibilitand respect that hen you talk about these issues, people ay aention. thais why i am glad youame to see us. >> thank you. anytime you vite me, i will be here. tavis: diahann carrl,an iconic figure in this institution hollywo. her latest book, "the legs are the last to go." thats her latst book. and ao it jessicaueller, expecting her first baby. t book is called "pretty is what changes." tnk you both for cong on the rogram. is week, we're paying ibute to our longtim producer and abiding friend, cryl flowers, who passed away rently from

breast cancer. we dedicate is program tonight to cheryl. until ne time, as aays, keep the faith. ♪ >>or more information on today's sh, visit tavismiley on pbs.org tavis: i amavis smiley. join me next time for the coersation with ste martin on his new cd of njo music. that is nextime. i>> there are so ma things that wal-mart is looking forwd to doing, likhelping people live better. but mostly, we're helping build stronger commuties and elationshi. because wityour help, the best is yet tcome. >> nationwide insurance proudly

supports "tavismiley." tav and nationwide, working together to improvefinancial litery and the ecnomic empowermenthat comes with it. >> ♪ nationwide is on youside ♪ >> anby contributions to your pbs station om viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible b kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning initute --www.ncicap.org