LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville woman LaRita Allen is pressing onward in her cancer journey. One surgery down, she's undergoing chemotherapy before she's committed to participating in a clinical trial. It's a decision she says many others would not have made, for fear. But she hopes she can be an inspiration.
"It's scary. It is scary," Allen said. "So I’m trying to choose my words and not make light of it.”
It was a very "mortal" moment when Allen was diagnosed with lung cancer. At least that's how she explains it.
“You have that moment of reality, like you’re mortal. You know you realize that ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not gonna live forever,'" Allen explained.
At that moment, she also knew she'd be willing to help medical professionals in testing cancer treatments for future generations in a clinical trial.
Otherwise, there's really not much participation from African Americans like herself, Allen said. Doctors concur history and underlying racism in healthcare have caused suspicions and a lack of interest.
“There’s still the idea that it’s just somebody whipping drugs together in their basement and just like, ‘Here, try this. Let’s see how that goes,'" Allen said.
While she's confident and comfortable now in the cancer trial, she's still thinking about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. That's another topic that brings on anxiety.
“I think part of the anxiety in the Black community is that we’ve been hit hard with the coronavirus," she added.
Some question the participation in the trials for Pfizer's shot. According to data released before the FDA approval for the vaccine's emergency use, people who are Black or of African descent made up about 9% of the test population.
“They also took a look at the diversity associated with this vaccine to try to identify if they were gonna have different subgroups that may or may not respond to this well," University of Louisville Health's Dr. Jason Smith explained.
"There was no difference in any of the people involved in the trial between any of the ethnic backgrounds in either their ability to produce the antibodies once they got the vaccine or side effects they may have encountered after getting the vaccine," he said.
Allen is reviewing the information before deciding to get the shot for herself. But she says she's a believer in medicine. That's what pushed her to the clinical trial in the first place.
"I’m at this point now that I have to do something more. And I think that we have to pray and we have to participate," she said.