NYCHA Employee Raises Breast Cancer Awareness at Howard Houses 

On October 15, NYCHA employee and Howard Houses resident Tracy Tomer led her community in the fourth annual breast cancer walk she organized at the development to raise awareness about breast cancer and raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign.  

“I continue to run into women of color in my neighborhood that have had breast cancer or are going through it now,” Ms. Tomer said. “I want awareness for the future, so that young ladies know that going to the doctor and doing self-breast exams are not things to be afraid of. I don’t want any woman to wait as long as I did to be checked out. I waited until I felt a lump to get checked out, but women don’t always feel something when they have breast cancer; I want women to be more conscious of this.”  

Ms. Tomer has been a NYCHA employee since 1998 and is a Community Associate in NYCHA’s Resident Outreach for Conversion and Modernization Services department. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 and is currently in remission. She has become an advocate for increased access to cancer treatment, funding for breast cancer research, and education about breast cancer detection. She has appeared in commercials and has been interviewed by media outlets regarding her story with breast cancer. (Read more of Ms. Tomer’s story here.)  

Approximately 30 people participated in the walk, which this year memorialized Ms. Tomer’s friend Trancine Wylie, a NYCHA employee and resident who passed away from breast cancer in August 2023, and highlighted another friend of Ms. Tomer: Veronica Nicholson, who has been battling colon cancer for eight years. Both women grew up with Ms. Tomer at Howard Houses and are godmothers to two of her daughters. “When Veronica was diagnosed, she was given a year to live but here she is eight years later,” Ms. Tomer said. “She’s my inspiration. She has yet to be cancer free or in remission and her fight alone is an inspiration.” 

In addition to Ms. Tomer, Howard Houses Resident Association President Naomi Johnson and retired NYCHA employee Sadie Sanders, as well as Ms. Tomer’s neighbor Natasha Capers and her four daughters (Tailaya Tomer, Taisheena Hazel, Taiquana Hazel, and Tiffany Bolden) helped organize the walk.