July marks Fibroid Awareness Month, and one local doctor and patient are looking to provide perspective on the painful and very common condition.  

Dr. Yan Katsnelson wants women to know that they’re not alone when dealing with fibroids and that there is a cure. He says that by age 50, up to 80% of Black women and 70% of white women suffer from fibroids.  

For patient Eugenia Buie, these benign tumors that grow in the uterus nearly took over her life.  

“When fibroids consume your body, it begins to take the blood from the oxygen,” said Buie. “You won’t be able to properly breathe and properly mobilize, and so your body is saying to you [that] something is wrong.” 

The New Yorker says she spent years with severe pain and a heavy flow that required a blood transfusion, taking a toll on her mental health.  

Buie now works with the Fibroid Fighter Foundation as an ambassador, empowering other women with valuable information about treatment.  

“I’m able to do things that I wasn’t able to do before without getting winded because I’m free,” said Buie. “Always remember we don’t fear fibroids, we fight them… we fight them with information, we fight them with conversation, we fight them with love.” 

The Fibroid Fighters Foundation and USA Fibroid Centers will hold their annual event for fibroid awareness in Manhattan on Thursday to raise money for the condition and its initiatives.