Beginning today July 7, 2016, on my sweet souls 48th birthday; the Tamiko L. Evans Foundation is an official Corporation. To honor my beloved; Tamiko L. Evans, I will embark on a journey that will forever change many lives in her name. My goal is simple: to make her name synonymous with breast cancer regarding African American women and possibly with breast cancer as a whole. Although we will fund
all breast cancer research and clinical trials, there will be a concerted effort placed on research and clinical trials for African American women. Currently, there exist a vast racial disparity in mortality rates and these rates, looking forward are only projected to rise. Research has shown for over a decade that breast cancer takes a deadlier toll on black women. What is not known is why? The number one reason for not finding the answers to all of the known statistical data is simply: Money; NO FUNDING! Just a few of the statistical data facts that I have gathered over the past 30 months of my research; not only are these statistics alarming but they are unacceptable to me: 1. Over 90% of all clinical trials are conducted on Caucasian women. 2. African American women are more than 42% more likely to die from breast cancer than Caucasian women. 3. African American women are more likely than Caucasian women to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer; this type of breast cancer resists current treatments. 4. African American women are given cancer diagnoses at younger ages than Caucasian. Moreover, a recent report from the American Cancer Society (3-15-2016), has warned that breast cancer will cause an increasing loss of life for African American women, who already are hit the hardest by the disease. Unfortunately, like many things in our society your skin color has a direct correlation to how you are prioritized. Breast Cancer funding is no different, although African American women die at almost twice the rate of Caucasian women, research and clinical trials only make up around 8% of the funding provided for trials on African American women. I could not save my heart and soul; but just maybe I can make a real difference in others’ lives. We will later this evening launch her website and page, to honor her birthday. Although there is still work to be done before we actually launch both permanently; we are still a few days away. Just a few more housekeeping items; we have applied for 501(c)(3) status and will receive our tax exempt status in approximately 60 days, according to the IRS. Until then we will be selling t-shirts and coffee mugs to raise funding. We can accept donations and once we receive out tax exempt status, donations will be treated as tax deductible contributions retroactive to the date of our organization; which is 7-7-16. By the way, the t-shirt design was done by Tamiko in August of 2015. She emailed it to me because we were planning on doing this very idea. The saying is her: The Bold, The Bald, and The Beautiful! More information will be forthcoming as we get up and running at full speed. Evans Foundation would like to thank you in advance for any future support you can offer.
