A new clinical trial at Montefiore Medical Center is now underway to study why some breast cancer survivors develop a form of nerve damage. Experts say women of color are more likely to develop the side effect compared to other ethnic groups. News 12 spoke with a cancer survivor about her struggles with her condition.

Kathy Beltran went through chemotherapy, radiation and two clinical trials to treat her stage one breast cancer. She says the hardest part of her survival story is what she developed after the treatments.

Beltran is among of group of women who has developed neuropathy, a form of nerve damage. The Bronx mother of four says she noticed off and on tingling in her hands during her third and fourth cancer treatments. She says the numbness progressed to other parts of her body.

Her symptoms are not common. In fact, researchers have discovered women of color are 40 times more likely to develop nerve damage while undergoing cancer treatments compared to 20% of Caucasian women.

Montefiore Medical Center is in the process of studying why women of color are more susceptible to nerve damage during and after chemo. Researchers are now recruiting women of color for a cancer study on nerve damage.

As for Beltrain, she hopes the new study will help prevent other cancer survivors from developing long term side effects associated with the disease.

Researchers in the study are looking at two specific cancer drugs to help determine why nerve damage may occur in some patients.