... Quiet voice of hope whispered: ‘Jennifer, give life one more try’

I RECEIVED a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was difficult, and each week when I met other cancer patients in the oncologist’s office, we all felt like we were treading in shark-infested waters, waiting for the cancer to pick us off one by one, yet we remained brave in the midst of insurmountable odds. Whenever my world was caving in on me with the treatments, there were good family members and friends who climbed into the medical trenches with me to love and support us.

I did not entertain negative persons. Like the others, I survived chemotherapy with the side effects of hair loss, vomiting, and feeling sick. At the end of the treatment, my immune system was strengthened by a good lifestyle, including a proper diet, exercise, good relationships, and taking responsibility for the energy that others brought to me and that I brought to others. The new challenge was to make it through the next five years.

After an uneventful 15-year survival period in Jamaica, I was diagnosed with tumor recurrence in my chest bone. My fear and frustration resurfaced. It seemed that the world was forcing me to give up and scream “NO!” to my continued survival, but a quiet voice of hope whispered, “Jennifer, give life one more try”. It is what Barack Obama called “The Audacity of Hope”. This is when I knew I had to keep my sanity, stop focusing on breast cancer and put fear aside again.

After the surgical removal of my chest bone, ribs, and radiation therapy, I developed a stronger purpose to survive tragedy one more time.

My experience with a cancer diagnosis taught me not to have a fear-based existence. It taught me that statistics are not written in stone, and that prognoses do not define anything about me. I was given a second chance in life when I made the choice to go through an intense treatment programme. It was then that I knew that I had to develop the courage to win. I transformed myself from being a victim to becoming a victor. I forced myself to thrive. There was no time for fear. I never gave up.