TAMPA, Fla. — This week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched National Black Family Cancer Awareness Week. 

The goal of the community-based initiative is to increase cancer awareness in one of the most vulnerable segments of the population. It’s a cause that the doctors at Moffitt Cancer center are getting behind in hopes of saving lives. 

Michael Signil Jr. and his family know first hand about the effects of cancer how important this week is. He’s had cancer twice.

“When I was 16 in high school, junior year going into my senior year and it was testicular cancer," Signil said.

He beat cancer then but in 2019 he was diagnosed with cancer again. This time it was Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“The doctors, after the first time I had cancer, told me there’s a possibility in the future that once you have it once, your body, it’s easier to catch any other kind of cancers later on. I was just praying hopefully that I didn’t get it again but I found out that I did,” Signil said.

He wasn’t the only one praying. His dad, Michael Sr., along with his mother and brother were there right by his side through both bouts of cancer. They were doing whatever they could to help, even offering their bone marrow. Thankfully his brother was a match and was able to donate. 

“We all tried to donate to testing for it. For his brother to be able to do it and be used was like a double blessing,” Michael Sr. said. 

Family is what this week is all about when it comes to cancer. June 17 through the 23 is National Black Family Cancer Awareness week. The new community-based initiative is hoping to change the fact that Black families are among the most vulnerable and hardest hit for cancer risk, diagnoses, and poor outcomes. It’s an initiative the doctors at Moffitt Cancer center say is vital.

“It’s one of those things that unfortunately in certain communities, talking to family members is frowned upon. You know we basically say we don’t know why big mama died or how big mama died or what was the reason behind it. So really if we educate people to say hey, what you don’t know could kill you or hurt you,” Moffitt Cancer Center Oncologist, Dr. Brandon Blue said.

And you don’t have to be a doctor to be involved with the call to action.

The #Blackfamcan is a way to show how you’ve helped educated your family more about cancer.

To get the word out more, doctors at Moffitt Cancer Center launched a podcast this week where they specifically discuss cancer in the Black community.