Beyond Boobs Questions Teen Cover Model's Cancer Story

By Desiree Parker Wednesday, March 31, 2010

A popular local breast health nonprofit is distancing itself from a teen who has served as a spokesperson for breast cancer survival after some fact-checking into the girl’s story revealed “substantial inconsistencies.”

Local media (including WYDaily) have written numerous stories about 16-year-old Virginia Beach resident Kierra Sewell, who says she was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 14. She and her mother, Dre’Langala Sewell, have been advocating for breast cancer awareness since last year.

On March 25, the breast health awareness group Beyond Boobs sent a letter to media outlets and associates that stated, “we have recently become aware of a number of substantial inconsistencies and irregularities in the story of Kierra Sewell’s diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer … because we are unable to verify Kierra’s diagnosis and treatment … we are notifying you that, with much regret, Beyond Boobs! Inc. is withdrawing our support of, and ceasing our association with, Dre and Kierra Sewell.”

Kierra Sewell is the cover model for the 2010 Beyond Boobs calendar, which features photos of local breast cancer survivors. She has been active with Beyond Boobs and other nonprofits in the area and has been touted as the youngest breast cancer survivor in Hampton Roads. Sewell was featured in last fall’s billboard campaign for the Tidewater chapter of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and has participated in several charity and educational events – locally and out of state - for breast cancer awareness.

Beyond Boobs co-founder Rene Bowditch said inconsistencies in Kierra’s story began to emerge some time ago, when Kierra had said she had undergone one radiation treatment and had taken one chemotherapy pill to treat her breast cancer. The statements she and her mother made about where her treatments took place (either at Portsmouth Naval Hospital or at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, or some combination of the two) raised questions, Bowditch said.

“Her story kept changing about her treatment,” said Bowditch. “But we kept giving her the benefit of the doubt – who on earth would lie about this, we wondered? But we finally had to do something.”

Representatives for the group talked to a few oncologists, who agreed the treatments Sewell mentioned were not consistent with protocol for the type of breast cancer Kierra says she had.

About three weeks ago the Beyond Boobs board asked  Kierra’s mother, Dre’Langala, to produce some evidence of her daughter’s treatment within two weeks. At a meeting with Dre’Langala last week, she had nothing to offer, Bowditch said. The meeting ended on bad terms, Bowditch added, and Dre’Langala hasn’t returned phone calls from the organization.

“She was very upset,” Bowditch said of Dre’Langala.

The Sewells first approached Beyond Boobs to share their story about a year ago at a conference in Norfolk, Bowditch said. That is also where the mother and daughter also found representatives from Susan G. Komen for a Cure.

While the Beyond Boobs group doesn’t feel they know the truth about the Sewells’ story, Bowditch said Tuesday, “I am so upset about [this] … I’m distressed about the other ladies in the calendar… our integrity is huge to us, and the women we support are incredibly inspirational to us. We can’t just sit back and take it.”

Neither Kierra nor her mother returned calls Tuesday. WYDaily could not verify Kierra’s age, the school she attends or anything else that has been reported to various media outlets.

Ilona Webb-Bruner, executive director at the Tidewater Susan G. Komen for the Cure, said if Kierra’s story is a hoax, “it makes me incredibly sad. I don’t want the community to think that every breast cancer survivor is representing themselves in a false way.”

Kierra and her mother were active with the organization, and were part of the speakers bureau for Susan G. Komen, a group of educational speakers who give presentations free of charge. Kierra was one of the women featured last fall on the Tidewater affiliate’s billboard campaign for young survivors.

Susan G. Komen gave a travel grant to Beyond Boobs recently to help pay for 10 breast cancer survivors, including Kierra, to travel to Atlanta for a week to attend a breast cancer survivors conference.

One of the reasons she’s “incredibly sad,” Webb-Bruner said, is that “the support [for her] could have gone toward this when there are women who are really suffering in our area. Every day we are overwhelmed with calls” for assistance from survivors who need some sort of help. Though the organization offers grant support, “The funds are not a drop in the bucket for the services people need here,” she said.

Beyond Boobs has created a new policy, Bowditch said, to ensure the group gets permission to verify its spokespeople have received treatment for cancer.

Though her organization is concerned about their integrity and for its members, Bowditch said, “We’re really worried about Kierra – she’s a victim in this, too.”