Cancer survivor prepares to help children through medicine
When J’Quani Chung enters the doors of Hampton School in September, she will be putting in the work to ensure she becomes a doctor.
“I want to become a haematologist oncologist paediatrician because ... it’s a doctor that deals with children that have blood cancer or blood issues,” said J’Quani.
Her desire to take on the discipline is motivated by the fact that she sat the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) from a hospital bed, having been diagnosed with leukaemia, a cancer which affects the blood cells.
Her mother, Amy Cassanova, said J’Quani got sick last year October.
“We went on a beach trip on Heroes Day and she fell ... and when she fell into the water she started feeling pain in her knee and she went to the doctor. We thought it was muscle spasm, but after doing some blood tests, we realised that her blood count was down, so we did a follow up test which diagnosed that she had leukaemia,” Cassanova said.
“She’s a persistent girl. She always knows what she wants. She has accepted that fact, that it’s just her illness and that’s what she has to deal with. She’s even going about without the wig now,” she added.
J’Quani is one of 10 students who sat the GSAT from a hospital bed this year. She will be attending her first-choice institution, Hampton School.
“I feel good. I wanted to go to Hampton because it’s an all-girl school and the best school in St Elizabeth,” said J’Quani, who became sick within the first two months of grade six at the Santa Cruz Primary and Junior High School.
“It was hard, but my mother stood by my bedside and read to me. She quizzed me and asked me questions and let me answer it,” J’Quani said.
Her mother is extremely proud of her daughter and celebrates her achievement with her.
“I feel great knowing that the circumstances was of such and she had to finish her chemo before she had to do the exam. And the fact that her results ... were so successful, and she earned a space at Hampton, I think that is quite commendable,” Cassanova said.