Blog 1

There are many health issues that affect women of all ages. African-American women usually are more prone to heart disease like hypertension and high cholesterol. My main concerns are breast cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Diabetes and high blood pressure are of most concern because they are very prevalent diseases in my family. I had a grandfather pass away from a stroke that was complicated due to the fact that he was also a diabetic. Throughout the many years he suffered with diabetes, I watched him rapidly decline in health status and mobility. I also have several other family members with the disease, including my own father. The effect of diabetes in the Black population is devastating because it takes away many lives and people with the disease tend to struggle with loss of ligaments. Sickle-cell anemia is also a disease that runs in the family. I have three cousins with the disease and three years ago, one of them gave up. This disease to me is probably the most devastating because it kills at such a young age and when children undergo the sickle attacks, anything can happen. They can die, be in the hospital, or be perfectly fine. The hardest thing is not knowing what the outcome may be and having to dread the worst. In addition, I am concerned about breast cancer because it is proven that it can now occur at any age. I recently had a scare that involved me having several breast lumps. Fortunately, the lumps were examined with a biopsy and they were identified as benign. Now I have mammograms every few months just for my self assurance. This experience helped me realize the importance of health and how women need to pay attention to their health and their bodies. You only have one life to live and one body to live it in so why not do it the right way.
I interviewed an individual of Ethiopian descent who expressed that her main health concern was diabetes. Diabetes runs through her family to the point where everyone in the family who are past the age of forty are diabetics. She verbalized that her main concern was the fact that diabetes comes with risk of blindness and amputation of ligaments. She also is worried about high blood pressure and high cholesterol since she lost her father to a massive heart attack that could have been caused by years of poor eating habits.
In addition, I discussed health concerns with an individual of the Cameroonian culture who voiced her main health concern as cancer. Cancer runs in her family (uterine, ovarian) and was the cause of death of her mother. In comparison, the concerns were usually sparked from first-hand experiences like the deaths of several family members which are reason enough to be concerned. Genetic diseases are very common and sometimes hard to control which is a scary thought because you never know what disease you might end up with at an old or young age.