I have often thought of donating my body to science in hopes that studying my remains would give some clue to the illnesses and early demise of many women of color. My ancestry includes African-Americans, European Americans and Native Americans, contributing to Women's Health Initiative is just a step in that direction.
My Aunt Bessie died of cancer in the twenties before I was born; my mother Pearl succumbed to cancer at age fifty when I was 15 years old and my older sister Harriet passed from cancer while she was in her forties. This quilt piece is in memory of them and my Grandmothers who transitioned before my birth. When you look at me I hope you will glimpse the courageous women of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who paved the way for us through their hard work and dedication to the family. Hopefully, this study will lengthen the time of quality of life for the generations of women to come,
CA
South Holland, IL