Trials of Color, a local nonprofit and community partner with VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, was recently honored as a recipient of a CRC Health Equity Grant from the Global Colon Cancer Association. The grant will help support the organization’s “Peace of Mind at Home,” initiative, a community screening and navigation program focused on communities in Virginia with a disproportionately high colorectal cancer incidence.

Trials of Color was one of eight awardees chosen from an international field of applicants and is just one of two selected grants in the United States.

The initiative is a joint effort focused in the Petersburg area in partnership between Trials of Color, VCU Massey, the Petersburg Sheriff’s Department and Pastor Belina Baugh and the New Divine Worship Center.

“This grant will help us make screening more accessible, put boots on the ground in the Petersburg community and knock out some of the barriers when it comes to colorectal colorectal cancer screening and care,” Sharon Rivera-Sanchez said, CEO and founder of Trials of Color and a triple negative breast cancer survivor.

Rivera-Sanchez founded Trials of Color with a mission to bridge the gap between underserved cancer patients and their healthcare providers. The nonprofit focuses on advocacy, education and support as a constant presence in communities like Petersburg.

Petersburg City suffers from a higher cancer incidence and cancer mortality rate than the nationwide and statewide averages, according to data collected between 2018-2022 by the Catchment Area Data Analytics (CADA) department at VCU Massey. This includes a higher cancer incidence and mortality rate for colorectal cancer, while 64% of colorectal cancer cases are late stage compared to 59.9% of cancer cases across the United States.

Rivera-Sanchez says she was inspired to start the “Peace of Mind at Home” initiative in honor of her brother, a Petersburg resident, who passed away from colorectal cancer in 2022, just 37 days after being diagnosed. According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for a colorectal cancer diagnosis is 91% if caught early.

“The main objective is to save lives because we know early detection can lead to better outcomes,” Rivera-Sanchez said. “With my brother, his cancer wasn't caught early, and he did not have a colonoscopy until being admitted to the hospital. That's what lit a fire and drove me.”

Rivera-Sanchez says there are several barriers preventing people in Petersburg from getting screened, including lack of transportation to larger facilities and fewer specialists like gastroenterologists in the area. Trials of Color hopes their presence in the community will help gather more information on how those barriers have changed in the last two years.

The “Peace of Mind at Home” project will distribute colorectal cancer screening tests in these communities, while connecting participants with positive screening results to a diagnostic colonoscopy at Massey. Rivera-Sanchez says with the “Massey on the Move” mobile health van working alongside her team in the community, they will be able to provide the “gold standard” of care: walking people through the process of setting up a colonoscopy appointment, answering questions about insurance, and working out transportation details.

“We don't want anyone to miss out on a screening just because of transportation,” Rivera-Sanchez said. “If we’re in the field handing out kits and the VCU Massey van is there, the data can be analyzed on site. If something in the results is not right, we can pick up the phone right there and can help them all the way through the process.”

This project will be a continuation of the partnership between Trials of Color and VCU Massey. In 2022, Trials of Color received support from the VCU Massey Cancer Center Community Grant Initiative, part of the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement, to bolster its efforts in raising colorectal cancer awareness among underserved and minority populations in the Petersburg area.

“It is a major priority for us at VCU Massey to partner with our community to help increase rates of colorectal cancer screening and to protect those who are most at-risk of developing the disease,” said Kim Rhoads, M.D., associate director of community outreach and engagement at VCU Massey. “I’m incredibly grateful to Ms. Sharon Rivera-Sanchez for her tireless efforts to increase awareness about cancer prevention, screening, and the importance of clinical trials, in our community.”

Rivera-Sanchez says the partnership with VCU Massey, where both she and her brother received care during their battles with cancer, is incredibly meaningful due to having an NCI-designated cancer center helping to serve the Petersburg community.

“This work is about more than distributing screening kits,” Rivera-Sanchez said. “It’s about restoring hope, building trust, and giving people the opportunity to detect cancer before it’s too late. Every screening represents the possibility of saving a life. If we can spare even one family from the heartbreak my family experienced, then every step we’ve taken has been worth it."

Written by: Preston Willett