Relay for Life returns after three-year break
Survivor urges women to do regular checks, mammogram
Published:Friday | June 23, 2023 | 12:08 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Relay for Life returned this year on Saturday, June 10, after a three-year break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The event — which generally includes gathering cancer survivors and their caregivers, family, and friends under the stars to honour loved ones fighting cancer and to mourn those who have died – was held under the theme ‘Walking Together with Hope’.
For Beverley Wallace, domestic helper and breast cancer survivor, it was a welcome renewal - her big chance to encourage other women and cancer survivors.
On Saturday, she walked the tracks of the Police Officers Club diligently, intent on finding a candle-lit luminary bag, which she had purchased in her own name.
When Wallace eventually found the bag, she fell on her knees before it and then lay contentedly on the ground behind it.
Explaining her reaction, she told The Gleaner that she purchased a bag for her name to be publicly displayed as a proud cancer survivor but primarily because she wants to be an inspiration to other women now fighting battles with breast cancer.
As part of the fundraiser, bags are usually purchased by the loved ones of persons whose lives were lost to cancer. In return, the deceased person’s name is showcased on the luminary bags.
Wallace wants to help change this narrative.
In addition to this support of Relay for Life, she wants to inspire women to have regular mammograms done. She recalls that it was an early mammogram that started her life-saving experience in 2017.
“I’d like to tell other women that they should go and get their annual screening because it’s when you know something, you can take care of it before it gets worse,” Wallace told The Gleaner.
SHE IS A FIGHTER
Cancer of the breast is the most common cancer among Jamaican women, with 1,208 new cases of breast cancer recorded for the island in 2020 alone.
Luckily, the St Ann native’s breast cancer was caught at stage one. Unfortunately, both breasts were removed as part of the treatment.
Wallaces says that after an an X-ray confirmed her worst fear six years ago, she made the decision to remove the breasts.“I told the doctor, ‘Just cut it out’ and took off the breast,” she recalls with a smile.
Her first operation took place on May 1, 2017.
She says when she received the diagnosis, her first thought was to turn to God for help.
“I just asked God to help me to bear what I can’t cure. Just to go with me.”
Wallace, who attends Faith Chapel in Redfield Avenue, says she asked her church to pray.
She opted against chemotherapy or radiation and was prescribed other medications, which she took instead for five years.
But it is her support network comprising her children, the Sylvester family, which she has served for 22 years, and her cancer support group that have been a tower of strength for her during the last six years, which she credits as the reason for her survival.
“I feel good! I only changed my diet, and I don’t worry about anything. I just take life one day at a time.”
Her employer, Corah Sylvester, chief executive officer at the Seaboard Authority, who joined her sitting on the grass, shared that Wallace is no longer just a domestic helper to her family or the administrative house manager at her residence.
“We’re family. We’ve been together for more than 20 years. We know each other very well - the good and the bad and the ugly - but it’s mostly good,” Sylvester told The Gleaner.
“She’s a fighter; absolutely amazing. Her passion for life is nothing that I’ve ever seen. It’s emotional,” she said.
Sylvester said that when she became aware that Wallace was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was not worried.
“I knew that the Lord would protect her, and she is a fighter, so it was going to be okay,” she said.
Sylvester says it was only natural to extend her compassion and support for Wallace during her surgery and rehab phases.
“You have to support the people that support you.”
MOBILE CLINICS
Like Wallace, there were hundreds of women walking around the track of the Police Officers Club, many with their support groups.
Dr Christopher Tufton, minister of health and wellness, who was out in support of the event, committed to extending the ministry’s reach to other survivors and affected persons.
“We’re going to be going into communities [through the] use of mobile clinics again to encourage that level of screening, and we’re going to be using the numbers to determine where the vulnerable communities are and try to place greater emphasis on them,” Tufton said.
The Jamaica Cancer Society, organisers of Relay for Life, is a partner of the Ministry of Health and Wellness. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that provides select cancer diagnostic and treatment services, raises public awareness around cancer, and provides counselling and support services for cancer patients and their families.
Tufton said the partnership is important and the ministry appreciated the efforts of the now 68-year-old Jamaica Cancer Society. This year marks the 21st annual staging of the event.