CHARLESTOWN Nevis, February 7th, 2013 -- It’s 5:30 a.m. I wake up in a hurry but quietly, I do not want to wake up the love of my life but I refuse to miss a beginning of another new day; I can smell flowers and hear the soft chirp of a bird I never manage to see.
Almighty father, I am enjoying your creation! What a beautiful Federation! I am enjoying little things that made sound simply but are important. Thank God FOR ANOTHER DAY. Thank God because this beautiful morning I am picking up from my son’s bed 12 toy dinosaurs, all with different names and habits. He is trying in vain to teach me their names, they are his best friends and even if they are scary I am happy to spend time with them.
The book about the history of Martin Luther King Jr. under my daughter’s bed made me smile. We were enjoying some hours ago, the inauguration parade in the United State of America. We were enjoying seeing a melting pot of cultures celebrating freedom and democracy, people from different backgrounds holding hands. Just some years ago blacks and women were not allowed to participate. Nothing is impossible when you put God in front and your heart and soul in your actions.
Tomorrow, 4th of February is World Cancer Day. It’s marked to raise awareness and encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. The primary goal is to significantly reduce death and illness caused by cancer by 2020.
Since my days in medical school, I could not sleep thinking of where the cancer patients I was attending will find the strength to face the physical and psychological challenges to live day by day and still smile for their families. As a doctor and NOW AS A CANCER PATIENT I know it is possible.
When you hear from a doctor the possibilities of having cancer, you feel life and hopes of the future leaving your body. There is a real internal chaos; questions come one after another, the doctors cannot answer most of them: Why me? How long have I had it? How bad? How long will I live? I am ready to battle? You may not feel the hands that are holding you, comforting you; it’s just you and your thoughts. Who has the answers for our FUTURE? Only HIM, our CREATOR.
ONLY GOD HOLDS THE FUTURE IN HIS HANDS. Do not feel scared, take a deep breath and rest your mind and body, HE WILL MAKE A WAY!
The side effects of Chemotherapies and Radiotherapies vary from patient to patient; some are even able to work as usual, for others it’s a challenge just to wake up every day. When I am close to my cancer friends/patients they are the ones who make me smile and inject me strength!
Some days, for some hours I feel COMPLETELY FINE. After some normal daily activities, my bald head, physical tiredness and uncomfortable joint pains will remind me to slow down. I am in this battle; my next Chemotherapy treatment is just 5 days away. I am surviving and very thankful to God for every second of life.
Our sisters Sharon Mills and Ruby Chapman are AT HOME! WE DID IT! Some of you are seeing them in Charlestown, happy, hopeful, believing in God and the future, thankful to ALL of you! We are looking after each other as brothers and sisters. CANCER DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE, it can happen to any of us in spite of the color of our skin or our personal beliefs.
Moments of government transition around the world can be difficult for both sides, but I KNOW, I STRONGLY BELIEVE that the love of ALL OF US FOR OUR WONDERFUL NEVIS, our wonderful FEDERATION will make each of us DO OUR BEST in every aspect of live. WE ARE ALIVE!, LET’S REFLECT ON THAT!
Our little Nevis has a lot to be proud of. The government, doctors, nurses, organizations, anonymous donors work hard every year for us to be aware of the devastating effects of cancer. For nine long years The Nevis Maternal Health Fund, in collaboration with doctors and nurses in the community, focuses on the detection of early stages of cervical cancer by providing free screening to the population; In partnership with For Women By Women Production, a health awareness video about Human Papilloma Virus and cervical cancer was made.
Pink Lily Cancer Care has done an incredible job of raising the awareness of breast cancer and at the same time facilitated the free screening of 200 ladies on Nevis. They are offering a most needed counseling and support to all cancer patients and their families here and in St. Kitts. Tomorrow Monday you will see all these wonderful, committed ladies at the square in Charlestown on their blessed mission.
Our men in Nevis wait for Dr. Dwayne Thwaites and his team to be checked for prostate cancer. WE NEED OUR MEN HEALTHY, we need to encourage them to take their health seriously.
From their work places, doctors nurses and other health workers are doing an amazing job.
After hearing from the Nevis Ministry of Health and Dr. Erole Hobdy, with my heart full of joy I can share the good news of CHEMOTHERAPY TREATMENT AVAILABLE IN NEVIS. Now dear brothers and sisters, we have the CHOICE of staying at home for treatment. It’s really happening for the benefit of a lot of us. Ruby and other cancer patients will be treated HERE!
Dr. Erole Hobdy and her team in collaboration with the Ministry of Health will have a short opening ceremony at the Alexandra Hospital Grounds at 9:30 a.m sharp. We (The Nevis Maternal Health Fund and Pink Lily Cancer Care) will use the opportunity to welcome back home our sister Ruby Chapman. What wonderful news for all of us, as a family to celebrate WORLD CANCER DAY.
ALL OF YOU ARE INVITED, PLEASE COME, JOIN US, LISTEN TO US AND BE AWARE, INFORMATION SAVES LIVES. We do not want you to be deprived of your freedom in the way cancer does or lose your own life. THIS FRIDAY, 8TH OF February, after the ceremony, we will be having our treatment AT HOME. One more treatment from the many needed for Ruby. She still need our help!
Thank you again, dear Lord for making this possible. Thanks to all of you, my dear Nevisian family.
DR. Jessica Bardales_Essien
Please, make a monetary contribution at: Bank of Nevis Account Number: 219903. Checks can be made payable to: The Nevis Maternal Health Fund and mailed to P.O Box 786 Charlestown, Nevis or hand delivered to Tracy Parris of Pink Lily at at A-1 office technology, contact number: 6643306 or Tracy Fraser at Nevis Tourism Authority contact number 6634846 e mail: nmfh@sisterisles.kn Visit “Nevis Maternal Health Fund on facebook
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