Ramona Burress, Pharm.D., is the associate director of diversity and inclusion in clinical trials at Janssen. Burress earned a doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2013, at 34 years old, she discovered a lump in her breast. Burress was going through many life changes at the time, including divorce. After being turned away by health care providers, she continued to advocate for herself and is sharing her story with others.
How did you discover the lump in your breast?
We were moving a dresser and I was coming down some stairs and I remember that dresser kind of hitting me in my chest. And I was like, “Oh, that hurts.” I had pain from what I thought was that dresser hitting my chest, but as I investigated more, it occurred in a shower and I felt a lump. I had had lumps throughout my life in my breasts and they correlated with my [menstrual] cycle. I said I’ll watch this thing and see, and it just didn’t go away. Months went past and it started to become a little bit painful.
The lump was located on my left breast, and I’m left handed. So, that pain was showing up in my workspace and it was kind of hindering my performance. I called my doctor and she knew that I was going through this life change of divorce, relocating, getting the kids acclimated. I had just seen her that July. So, the first conversation was like, “Ramona, I saw you, I did your full exam. I don’t think it’s anything, let’s just wait and see.” As a result, maybe two weeks later, I called her back because that pain was just persistent. There was nowhere for this lump to hide it. Because there was no tissue, I kind of got dismissed like, “let’s, let’s just wait and see.” I was 34 and I didn’t have any identifiable risk factors. I didn’t have any family history.
How did you advocate for yourself when your concerns were being dismissed?
I [made] a third phone call, because the pain was getting severe. The lump was still present and I needed to see someone. So, I got an appointment and I wasn’t able to see my physician. I saw a partner in her practice. She examined me and said, “I don’t think it’s anything. But because you have Blue Cross, let me send you to get a mammogram.”
I’m a pharmacist, I know how this game goes. Most of the clinical guidelines tell us that mammography is not needed for anyone under the age of 40, especially for someone who was presenting like myself who didn’t have any risk factors and nothing to clinically justify a mammogram. So, the fact that I had this private insurance opened the door for me to get a mammogram.
–dr. maya “100” greene
