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Doing something about Black cancer rates
At Milwaukee’s Oasis Senior Center, located on Mitchell Street, the focus is fitness.
MILWAUKEE - At Milwaukee’s Oasis Senior Center, located on Mitchell Street, the focus is fitness on Monday and Wednesday nights. Instructor Leonard Wilson pushes the group physically and mentally.
"I’m going to say it again," Wilson, founder of Divine Intervention Fitness, said. "Your mind is stronger than your body."
The motto is check your ego at the door. That helps participant John Holt dig deep.
"The bands can be stressful," Holt said. "Especially if you haven’t done it before."
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This is not the first time their bodies have been pushed. The class is made up of cancer survivors and co-survivors.
"Co-survivors are loved ones or significant others of the participants who had cancer," Wilson said.
Leonard Wilson
Through fitness and nutrition, Wilson is on a mission to lower cancer rates, especially in the Black community.
Data from the American Cancer Society says for most types of cancer, Black people have the highest death rate. Black men are 50% more likely to develop prostate cancer and twice and likely to die from the disease.
The American Cancer Society says Black women are 41% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women. "That statistic is even more striking because fewer Black women are diagnosed with breast cancer than white women," its website reads.
To help the numbers drop, Leonard Wilson started the Health is Wealth Cancer Survivorship program. The class is free. People sign-up to work out twice a week for eight weeks. Some of the people in the class are returners.
"I’ve always been very energetic. I wanted to keep that energy. I wanted it back," said Geneva Ellis, a cancer survivor.
Geneva Ellis
Teaching diet and nutrition is a top priority too.
"We learn how to eat better. We have different people come in with different types of food, said Alice Moore, an ovarian cancer survivor.
"You can literally change your life and lower your risk of cancer by eating better. 100%," Leonard Wilson said.
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People pick up new habits and share them with their loved ones back home.
"It’s actually brought down my cholesterol, my blood pressure, my sugar level and my weight," John Holt said.
Wilson received the Kohl’s Healthy Families Grant to help with his effort.