She had breast cancer, her doctor told her one afternoon more than three years ago.

It took everything Hailey had to muster the strength to leave her doctor's office and find a haven to cry, yell and cry some more.

Hailey beat the disease, not just once but twice. She fought off cancer again last year in her other breast.

Today, the 48-year-old Hampton mother is a mentor and friend to other breast cancer victims and survivors. She is an advocate of programs created around the state in recent years to fight one of breast cancer's most striking statistics: While white women get breast cancer at a higher rate than others, black women tend to die from the disease more often.

The disparity is a major concern for health providers in Hampton Roads, and programs have been set up to help eliminate the trend .

The programs aimed at increasing black women's odds against breast cancer stress the importance of early detection. Studies have shown that white women have traditionally gotten mammograms at a far greater rate. The X-rays can be crucial to catching the disease in its earlier stages.

Sisters for Mammograms , started in 2000 by the nonprofit Virginia Health Quality Center in Richmond , promotes annual mammograms for women over 40 . In churches, community events and at health fairs, Sisters also encourages women to conduct self- examinations.

Every Woman's Life , developed by the Virginia Department of Health , pays for mammograms and cervical cancer tests for middle- age, lower-income Virginia residents.

The latter program was the only way Delaresa Jackso n, a Newport News resident, could get a mammogram last year.

"I knew I needed to start having them, but I didn't have insurance," Jackson, 45, said recently.

Jackson learned about Every Woman's Life at a festival held at Gospel Light United Holy Church in Newport News. Her mammogram indicated she was cancer-free.

Health officials believe black women die from breast cancer more often because many, like Jackson, do not have access to care. Lack of insurance is a problem in some cases, said Beth S. Ehrensberger , the public education manager for Every Woman's Life. In other cases, older black women harbor long-held cultural beliefs that they shouldn't trust doctors, said Gloria D. Smith, the coordinator for Hampton Roads' Minority Health Coalition. Still others are afraid to find out if they have cancer, she said.

Smith said programs like Sisters and Every Woman's Life have helped her reach hundreds of women. Both programs provide educational brochures for Smith and others to distribute.

Since 1997, Every Woman's Life has screened more than 12,400 women. About 230 were diagnosed with breast cancer and 120 were found to have symptoms of the disease.

The program has representatives at 26 sites across the state - nine of which are in Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore, Ehrensberger said.

Recently, Every Woman's Life began recruiting volunteer outreach workers to spread its message of vigilance to minority women throughout Virginia.

"Many times women are diagnosed in their second or third year of routine screenings, said Amy Swink, who helps run the Every Woman's Life program in Norfolk. "It's a very unpredictable thing."

Cathy Roe, who helps run the Cancer Prevention Coalition of the Virginia Peninsula, said programs like Sisters provide a support system for women.

"Sisters tries to address the fear issue by having someone who has fought the disease talk to them and let them know that it's not a horrible situation," Roe said.

Annette Holmes , a manager of the Sisters project, said organizers believe their efforts have helped increase the number of black women - and white women - getting mammograms. Slowly but surely, their gospel of early detection is gaining converts.

One day not long ago, Hailey invited Sisters representatives to join her in a presentation to members of her church. Hailey told about how she greatly improved her odds against cancer because regular self-exams and mammograms caught the disease at early stages. Prayer and her husband then helped her get through surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

After Hailey finished, the Sisters representatives stepped up, asking the audience to spread the message. Each church member was challenged to go out that day and find 10 other women to talk to about breast cancer.

Hailey has done that and more. She has created a whole new section in her personal telephone directory for all the people she has met and talked with about breast cancer.

Colleagues at her job at Household Finance in Chesapeake confide in her about the struggles of family members who have the disease. Not long ago, she visited a co-worker's sister in Washington, who has since died from the disease.

That death was a bitter reminder that not all women beat breast cancer. But Hailey isn't dispirited - there are too many other women who, with encouragement, can do what it takes to beat the odds.

Whenever the value of her mission seems in doubt, Hailey has only to think of her own seven sisters. Before her own ordeal, none of them was regularly getting mammograms or doing self-exams. Now they're doing them on a regular basis.

"I know that I make a difference," Hailey said.

Reach Katrice Hardy at 222-5857 or katrice.franklin pilotonline.com.