Busta’s Persons of the Week: Two friends share breast cancer journeys to become cancer free

By Busta Brown Regina Burnette and Jennifer Barksdale have known each other for 30 years. They’ve always helped each other navigate the ups and downs of adulthood and their bond only grew stronger with time. But nothing could have prepared them for the moment that forever changed their lives.  The news was no less than devastating: now both women faced a battle neither of them had expected.  On June 28, 2024, while Jennifer Barksdale was at work, she received that phone call. “I will never forget it. I had my biopsy a couple of weeks before the phone call. It was after I had my mammogram. They told me that there were two areas that they were concerned with.  “They expressed to me that I had what is called stage zero cancer. It’s called DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ). It’s where the cancerous cells were encapsulated within my milk duct. It was a Level 3, so they needed to be removed immediately. So, on June 28, approximately 2 p.m. in the afternoon, I learned I had cancer,” shared the mother of one.  I asked, what was the first thought that went through her mind when she received the news?  She...