BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Corita Fincher sat at her home computer Dec. 31, 2010, sending encouraging emails to others as she often did, when she felt a hot pang in her right breast.
"I said, 'that's strange,'" she said. "But I just kept typing."
The heat happened again. She stopped typing. Fincher discovered a lump in her breast, but thought it might be a cyst.
A diagnosis in January 2011 revealed that Fincher, an office associate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Nursing Department of Community Health, Outcomes and Systems, had breast cancer -- not just any form of the disease, but an aggressive version called triple negative. At the start, she had a 5-by-6-centimeter mass.
"I said, 'God, if this is what I need to go through, it's for my good and your glory,'" she said. "That's what I just kept saying through the whole time: 'If I am to witness to someone through it, after it, it's your will.'"
She endured chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and 33 radiation treatments. She finished those treatments in October.
Fincher is a cancer survivor.
Today, she plans to be with other survivors at "Celebrating Life," a National Cancer Survivors Day event at Regions Park in Hoover. The event, which begins at 6 p.m., will feature educational opportunities, children's activities and much more. The first 200 cancer survivors will receive a free T-shirt and ticket to see the Barons play the Chattanooga Lookouts.
The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Barons and various Alabama cancer-related organizations are putting on the event, which will feature an honor wall that allows participants to honor a loved one who has battled cancer.
Fincher said she is blessed that she worked at UAB, where she had access to a wealth of expertise, from breast cancer researchers to doctors who were instrumental in her path to recovery.
She now wants to empower others to help save their lives.
She is training to be a volunteer with the Community Health Advisors as Research Partners through the Deep South Network for Cancer Control. Her role as an advocate is to encourage the underserved populations in the importance of prevention and early detection of cancer, she said.
Fincher knows that so many others lack resources and don't even have access to a mammogram, especially in the areas where there are no medical clinics. Early detection is vital for the many cancers.
Dr. Karen Meneses, an oncology nurse, associate dean for research and professor in UAB's School of Nursing, said disparities exist, especially in rural areas and in the Black Belt.
Meneses said a hurdle for many in the rural communities is high poverty and little access to information for support. Without the ability to share, people are not able to learn accurate information about cancer, treatment and follow-up care guidelines.
Outreach is being done in northeast counties of the state, where there is a large Hispanic population, and the Black Belt, where more than a third of the people are poor.
"It's helping to arm them with better information about how to care for themselves," Meneses said.
Fincher, 50, is excited to be a part of outreach to assist others.
"I've always wanted to do causes," she said. "but my life was so busy. When it hit me, now I have a platform. Now, I can be an advocate to help those who are less fortunate."
Join the conversation by clicking to comment or email Walton at vwalton@bhamnews.com.
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