Support group tackles gaps in cancer care for Black Canadians

A support group in Calgary founded by a cancer survivor and his wife aims to close the gap in care for Black Canadians.

When Bayo Oladele was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2016, he struggled to find support for Black patients like himself.

"What I noticed was the absence of community group or support, where I could go to for discussions about what to expect as I move along the journey of the cancer," he told CTV's Your Morning on Monday. "There was nobody to talk to."

Oladele wanted answers about how the disease was going to affect people like him, but the resources that he could find were mostly geared towards white patients.

"I needed somebody that could actually say, 'Okay… this is the type of thing you should expect,'" he explained.

That’s when he and his wife, Yinka Oladele, started the African Cancer Support Group, which provides resources as well as a safe space for Black, African and Caribbean Canadians to share their experiences.

"We offer emotional support, so that they will be able to reduce stress, they'll be able to find joy, they'll be able to find feelings of hopelessness," Yinka told CTV's Your Morning. "We talk about mental health. We talk about what to expect during the journey, chemotherapy or during radiation."

The Oladeles' support group also offers turkey meals for Thanksgiving and Christmas, meetings with medical professionals, complimentary massage and acupuncture therapies and will even provide financial aid for some of the medical bills.

Calgary oncologist Dr. Doreen Ezeife says support networks like these are critical and make "a tremendous difference" for patients.

"That support network allows them to share experiences with and share their cancer journey. And what happens is that they also start to exchange information with the other patients and discuss about the treatments they're receiving and what they can expect for people who are at different parts of their cancer journey," Ezeife told CTV's Your Morning on Monday.

These support networks are especially important for Black Canadians, who often face more barriers in the medical system.

"When we have cultural support groups like the African Cancer Support Group, what that really does is it empowers our Black patients to seek out that information and to communicate more effectively with their healthcare providers," Ezeife said.

A 2019 study found that Black Canadian women had lower cervical and breast cancer screening rates than the general population. Ezeife also points to census data in Canada which show that Black Canadians have higher mortality rates for prostate cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer.

Bayo says that part of this may be due to the stigma in many African communities against talking about cancer.

"They think that if people know that they have cancer, then they will not associate with them again," he said. "We want to let people know that cancer is not a death sentence if it's tested early, and cancer is not your fault."

While cancer registries in the U.S. and the U.K. collect race-based data, Canadian registries do not. Ezeife says the given the lack of comprehensive data collection in this county, the extent of the care gap affecting Black Canadians, as well as the underlying reasons for these gaps, remain unclear.

"Is it because of access to screening? Is it because of access to clinical trials? Access to stem cell transplants? Do we need to increase education?" she said.

"Really collecting that race-based data routinely can help us to identify what the gaps are, and design targeted interventions to close those gaps and really achieve equity in cancer care."