Eisenhower Park walk focuses on cancer awareness among South Asians on Long Island

Light rain and a heavy catered breakfast of chole bhature — chickpeas and flatbread — failed to hold back participants at the American Panjabi Society's third annual cancer awareness walk, held Sunday morning at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow.

Before walking a weather-abbreviated route around the softball fields, several hundred participants — ranging from teenagers to septuagenarians — gathered under a park pavilion to enjoy hot chai and listen to a variety of speakers and clinicians talk about some of the unique challenges in cancer-prevention for South Asian Americans.

"We know for a fact that [cancer and heart disease] tend to run at a higher prevalence within the South Asian community. A lot of it can be genetic, but also just the lifestyles that we all have with our diets and lack of exercise," Dr. Kirpal Kochar, a cardiologist with Northwell Health.

A 2024 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found that South Asian Americans had higher prevalence of breast and thyroid cancers compared to white people, but lower rates of some other cancers, including lung cancer.

Navneet Sondhi, a chief organizer of the event and chairperson of the Long Island-based society's Women's Council, said many South Asians are afraid to talk about cancer.

"We want them to understand — don't be scared of this. Cancer is a life-threatening disease, which can be prevented … if things are done on time," Sondhi said.

Staff from several healthcare providers offered free blood pressure checks and spoke to visitors about diet, exercise and cancer screenings like mammograms and colonoscopies, as well as the HPV vaccine, which reduces risk for cervical cancer.

Dr. Tarun Wasil, an oncologist with New York Cancer and Blood Specialists, said some of his South Asian patients hold the mistaken belief that their vegetarianism will shield them from cancer.

"Vegetarian food can also be very bad. Ultra processed food, whether it is vegetarian or non-vegetarian — doesn't make a difference," Wasil said. "Refined sugars, which we consume as South Asians, also is very bad."

South Asians are "grossly underrepresented" in clinical cancer trials and studies, said Dr. Avneet Singh, a cardiologist with Northwell. Another problem: The American health system lists Indians, Pakistanis and other South Asians all together under the broad category of "Asian."

"But South Asian is different from Southeast Asian or somebody from Japan, for example," Singh said. "There is clearly a disparity and lack of understanding as to why certain disease conditions like heart disease and cancers might be occurring at a higher frequency in our population. A knowledge gap exists."

Satnam Parhar, 71, a lifelong runner from East Meadow who is preparing for his 14th New York City marathon in November, sported a pink turban to recognize October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Parhar said he supported the event's emphasis on staying active: "There's two ways [to stay healthy]: either you run, take care of your body, or you go to the doctor's office."

Mohinder Singh Taneja, the Punjabi American Society's senior vice president, said his wife survived a battle with breast cancer a decade ago.

"What the family goes through, what the patient goes through — those things are very challenging, terrible." he said. "Any kind of prevention and information is always better for health wellness."