Amanda Rochester lost three sisters to breast cancer

At 33 years of age, and after losing three sisters to breast cancer, Amanda Rochester never thought the dreadful disease would come knocking at her door under the age of 40.

However, it did two years ago, and now, the mother and nurse by profession says she is expecting a bill of $800,000 per month for cancer treatment, given that the cancer has spread to other areas of her body, which she hopes to soon hear the diagnosis about.

“[For me], it’s a genetic thing. It’s in my family, and it’s now in my back and in my abdomen,” Rochester told The Sunday Gleaner during an interview on Thursday.

The three sisters she lost to breast cancer were her father’s daughters. The first died when Rochester was in high school, the second died in the year 2022, and the third died in 2023.

So painful is the memory that during the interview, Rochester did not want to recall their names but mentioned that the two recent ones were 46 and 52 years old when they died, and she has blocked the memory of the age of the sister who died while she was in high school.

After watching her sisters die one after the other to breast cancer and becoming diagnosed herself, Rochester says the thought of dying as well came to mind.

“I was like, ‘Mi a go reach in a di same situation’. I was thinking that. Then, when I think of my son, I say, ‘No, I want to break the curse right here. Mi waa mek a difference, and mi want fi live’. Mi start have positive vibes now and doing different things, so two days after I came out of chemotherapy, I started to cheer up myself, once I’m not in pain,” Rochester shared.

During the interview, she recalled the moment she felt the dreadful lump. “One day, I was sitting down talking to a friend, and I put my hands in my top (shirt), just talking, and rest my hands on my breast, and I felt the lump. Right there and then, I got up, got dressed and went to the doctor,” Rochester said.

After making that first visit, she was sent to do an ultrasound and mammogram, but given her young age, medical practitioners refused to do the mammogram. She returned to her doctor, who wrote a referral. After seeing the results, the doctor referred Rochester to a specialist, who again sent her to do another ultrasound and mammogram.

The second ultrasound convinced the specialist that it was indeed breast cancer, and Rochester was then sent to do a biopsy.

“When I got my results, it was confirmed. That was in 2022, so I have been fighting for two years,” Rochester told The Sunday Gleaner.

“In my journey, I want to tell you that I was in the process of buying a house before I found out I had breast cancer. I paid the deposit, and when I found out, I had to do the tests, and when I was about to go into surgery, some issue took place at the bank, and I never got through, and the sale was cancelled .... . Even through the radiation, I was still doing the process [to buy the house]. Mi always tell myself seh mi want [to] achieve my goals, so I work towards my goals [the] same way. Mi like fi dress up. I like to have fun, so I try to do what makes me happy,” she said.

As a patient without insurance, Rochester is facing a tough financial challenge for treatment.

“It takes a lot of tests: genetic testing, CT scan, bone scan and IHC. That’s where they declare if you are HER2 positive, and those are sent to Miami to get tested, so you have to pay for them in US dollars, and I have [done] everything without insurance, and right after I did the tests and everything, I did surgery - a bilateral mastectomy - so I removed both breasts, and I did a reconstruction, and two months after, I lost one of my implants. My implant burst. It opened up. The wound was opened, so they admitted me in the hospital, and I was supposed to go back to [the] theatre to remove it fully, and while I was there, one day, I got up, and the implant just dropped out on its own. Not drop on the floor, but came out,” Rochester said.

“Because it came out, they did not take me to the theatre. They packed it with gauze until it closed up on its own. After that, I did eight rounds of chemotherapy and 25 rounds of radiation,” she said.

Paying for treatment has been tough on Rochester’s finances, along with that of her family and friends who support her. Also, since doing the surgery, she has not been able to return to work “because of the ache and the pain and the discomfort” and is concerned about the pressure it has on her village.

“The treatment I am supposed to get now, it is like $800,000 per month. I don’t start the treatment as yet given that I found out two months ago ... and I have to do over some tests such as CT scan, bone scan, blood test, and others,” she said.

Rochester told The Sunday Gleaner that prayer helps her to stay grounded and self-motivated.

“I pray and ask God for healing every day. Whatever it is, I put it in the Lord’s hand,” she said.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com