Syreeta Coleman
Syreeta Coleman, Tigerlily Foundation ANGEL advocate and clinical trial participant, has a message for our newsletter readers: “If you want to be part of the solution, get out there!”
Author: Katherine Cornish
Syreeta, who has worked in the healthcare industry for over 20 years supporting insurance processing and data analytics, has participated in several clinical trials. While she’s participated in women’s health studies in the past, Syreeta is currently enrolled in a breast cancer clinical trial. She notes that as part of the study, she gets to continue being on the same treatment that she was on prior to enrolling in the trial, so there aren’t any major changes to her life as a result of new treatment side effects. Syreeta also highlights that receiving extra care and additional testing or imaging opportunities is her favorite perk of trial participation – she’s been able to have more scans done as part of the trial assessments than she would have had without participation. Having a strong understanding of insurance processing, co-pays, and hospital processes, Syreeta shares how important the access to high-touch care can be for trial participants: “I was glad to be able to get a more thorough workup. Insurance doesn’t want to cover our PET scans – most survivors that I know have not had a PET scan because they can’t afford it. But this trial allowed me to get a PET scan. And I get assessment on all of my biomarkers every other month. That’s a big plus for me.”
Syreeta’s physician reached out to her about the trial, knowing that she had an interest in participating in a study if the right one was available. While she acknowledges that not all people are asked and might need to do the asking themselves, she points out that physicians might not ask about trial participation because there simply aren’t any trials nearby that are currently enrolling or that their patient might qualify for. However, it’s up to the patient themselves to make sure that their physician knows they’re interested, even if there aren’t any ongoing trials at the moment. And if the patient doesn’t feel like the physician is listening, “you can always leave. If your doctor isn’t working for you, find a new doctor. That’s okay,” says Syreeta. And she highlights this in regards to trial participation as well. “If you’re in a clinical trial, you don’t have to stay there if it’s not beneficial for you and your life. Life happens, things change. But you won’t know until you take the chance. And that’s what we need to do, is to take the chance,” she says.
“If you’re led to it, then follow through. You had the idea of it (participating), so do it. The idea of it can turn into you doing it, and that can help the next person and those that come after you.”
Syreeta Coleman
She highlights being surrounded by healthcare colleagues as a big driver in making her feel comfortable and empowered in talking about and participating in clinical research. “Clinical trials might sound intimidating, but it’s just another way of saying research,” she says. “Everyone knows what research is, it’s just finding the answer to a question or finding the solution to a problem. You go on Google and look things up, that’s doing research.” Acknowledging the lack of representation in trials, Syreeta shares that she “wants to be the face of clinical research, the face that isn’t currently represented… there’s just not enough African American women or men that sign up for clinical trials because they’re afraid of the ‘what ifs’, but we won’t know if we don’t try it.” The fear of the unknown or lack of awareness on how clinical trials work is a big barrier to participation, Syreeta highlights, especially when patients don’t feel like anyone in clinical research looks like them — that’s what she wants to change. She highlights this as a driving factor for her in the way she advocates for others to think about clinical trial participation. “If
you see a familiar face, you might think ‘oh, well she did it so I could do it too.’ We’re never going to be able to conquer anything if we just sit here. We have to get up, we have to do it.”
