BY HOWARD CAMPBELL—
Observer senior writer—
Carlene Davis (right) and Chevelle Franklyn at the offices of the BBC in London on Friday promoting the ‘Breakthrough’ concert.
LAST night Carlene Davis was scheduled to perform at ‘Breakthrough’, a concert in Birmingham, England, that raises funds to promote breast cancer awareness.
Davis empathizes with persons diagnosed with a disease that kills thousands of women annually, and transforms lives of survivors. The 66-year-old singer remembers when doctors told her she had breast cancer.
“I was diagnosed in 1996 and my response…I was quietly and deeply fearful. But within that place of fear I drew on the strength of knowing that I wasn’t alone; my husband, children, friends and church family and my doctors were there to literally hold my hand,” she recalled in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.
“Most importantly, my renewed relationship with the Lord and the scripture found in Philippians 4, verse 13 that says, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ [brought comfort].”
There is a high rate of breast cancer among Jamaican women.
Last September, the Jamaica Cancer Society reported that 60 per cent of women diagnosed with the disease in 2018 were between the ages of 25 and 59.
The organisation disclosed that 974 breast cancer patients were registered in Jamaica that year, with 413 deaths.
According to Davis, once a physician makes the affirmative diagnosis, the patient goes through a period of soul-searching.
“This experience has been a turning point in my life. I live a life of thankfulness with an urgency to know that there is purpose, an assignment on my life, and this comes with a serious responsibility. I try at all times to owe man nothing but love,” she said.
The Global Cancer Observatory, headquarted in Lyon, France, estimates there will be 1,010 breast cancer cases in Jamaica this year. Those troubling statistics, Carlene Davis stressed, make it even more important for her to play the role of comforter.
“As often as is possible I encourage those who are going through it, including their family members who are having a hard time dealing with it, having been there myself,” she said.
“I take the time to pray with them to know that the God that I serve is the same healing God of yesterday, today and will be tomorrow, having overcome this ordeal.”
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