As you prepare for traditional family gatherings this summer, plan to include a conversation about family health history. Encourage loved ones to share their stories and stress the importance of disease prevention.

Over the past year, BlackAmericaWeb.com and the Tom Joyner Morning Show have been actively involved in the effort to enroll more black women in the Sister Study, the only long-term study in the United States and Puerto Rico of women ages 35 to 74 who've never had breast cancer but whose sisters have had the disease.

Researchers believe the Sister Study will help us better understand reasons women get breast cancer, especially reasons that concern environment and genes. Results from the Sister Study may also help us understand reasons women get other diseases such as heart disease and other types of cancer. Knowledge gained from the Sister Study will be used to develop recommendations for preventing breast cancer in the future and promoting good health for women.

Where are we now? Overall, nearly 50,000 women have joined the Sister Study, but still fewer than 5,000 black women are participating! We may never learn the causes of breast cancer in black women if they are not well represented in this study. To help ensure that the study results benefit our women, we want at least 500 more black women to sign up.

Many black women have heard about the Sister Study, but they haven't signed up yet, and we really need them now. To those thousands of women who have responded to our call to action, we thank you! Now we ask that you complete your study activities and encourage your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to join the Sister Study too.

Let's get busy! The Sister Study makes it easy to help you encourage others to join by providing printed materials. The most popular items are the brochures, DVD, fans, bookmarks and pink ribbon nail files. Partner kits are available for organizations that want to give a group presentation. Here are three easy ways to get materials to share, all free of charge!

1. Complete and submit a request for materials form and wait for their arrival.
2. Download and print materials instantly from our site.
3. Call the Sister Study at 1-877-4-SISTER (1-877-474-7837) and place your order for materials TODAY!

• nclude church bulletin inserts in Sunday service program.
• Distribute brochures and fans at your family reunion.
• Take brochures to community health center.
• Order fans for your summer cookout or Sunday service.
• Put nail files in your salon.
• Take brochures to your favorite gym.
• Give bookmarks and show the video at your next book club meeting.

Need a pep talk? Listen to stories from women who want you to know why they joined the Sister Study. If they joined, you can do it too!

a woman between the ages of 35 and 74 years old
and you live in the U.S. or Puerto Rico
and you have never had breast cancer yourself
and your sister (living or deceased), related to you by blood, had breast cancer

Then you can join the Sister Study TODAY!

(Don't forget to call 1-877-4SISTER to complete the enrollment process.) The Sister Study follows sound, ethical research practices, and keeps all personal data safe, private and confidential. Women who join are not asked to take any medicine, visit a medical center, or make any changes to their habits, diet or daily life, although they are free to make such changes over the course of the observational study.

Make your sister proud.

• Studies have shown that sisters of women with breast cancer have about double the risk of developing breast cancer themselves.
• Breast cancer occurrence and survival are different for black women, who often develop the disease at a younger age and have more aggressive tumors, than white women.
• Much of what we know about breast cancer risk comes from studies of mostly white women.
• Even though white women are more likely to get the disease, black women are more likely to die from breast cancer.