WE often hear that having a mother, sister, or daughter with breast cancer increases a woman’s risk, but for siblings Mesha, Danille and Alicia Morgan, this is their reality.

Within the last eight years they’ve all been diagnosed with breast cancer.

In fact their mother, Lorine Saunders, is a three-time cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, ovarian cancer a few years later, then multiple myeloma. The sisters also lost their grandmother — Saunders’ mom — to breast cancer.

Danille, the eldest, was the first of the siblings to be afflicted with the disease. She told the Jamaica Observer that in 2016 she identified an abnormality through a breast self-exam. She was 33 years old.

According to the mother of three, her oncologist mapped her family tree and found that on her dad’s side there were cases of pancreatic cancer, uterine cancer, endometriosis, and ovarian cancer, while on her mom’s side of the family there were mostly cases of breast cancer. Her mom’s sister and aunt also had the disease, with the aunt being the first to pass due to the condition, she disclosed.

In 2019, three years after her first diagnosis, Danille’s breast cancer was back. On this occasion she had a bilateral mastectomy but did not have reconstructive surgery.

“I chose to remain flat because I am fearless and I am fabulous, and I don’t need my breasts to identify as a woman,” she said.

The two-time cancer “thriver” — as Danille describes herself, given that she is no longer “surviving” cancer but “living a thriving life” — told the Sunday Observer that another shocker came three years after her second diagnosis: her sister Alicia learnt she had breast cancer.

“I was angry because, damn, you can’t satisfy! I gave you my breast and you came back for my sister’s breasts. What is the problem? What is it that you want with my family? It is like we cannot catch a break,” Danille recounted.

However, she now believes there was a reason she was the first of the siblings to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

“God allowed me to be diagnosed — the first-born. I believe if it was the opposite way around I don’t know how it would’ve turned out, but He had given like a reassurance to my sister: ‘She has walked this walk, not once but twice, now it’s your rodeo. This is your fight but you are never and will never fight alone, because you have your mom and your sister as examples for you,’ ” Danille reasoned in the interview with the Sunday Observer as this newspaper joins the global community in raising awareness about the disease in October under the theme: ‘No one should face breast cancer alone’.

While Danille’s three children were her biggest supporters throughout her journey, she became a tower of strength for Alicia, who is the only sister residing in Jamaica with her now 11-year-old son.

But, initially, Alicia did not want to share her diagnosis with her family.

“When I was diagnosed I remember thinking immediately, ‘I can’t tell them; I have to keep this to myself… They’ve gone through hell [so] there is no way I’m gonna let them come through my hell. They don’t deserve this.’ Of course, I was afraid. I crumbled — I’m not going to lie — but I didn’t want to have them go through it,” related Alicia.

The 38-year-old told the Sunday Observer that she eventually shared her diagnosis with her family and publicly, via social network Facebook, and despite Danille residing overseas, “she made the world turn for me until she could’ve been here [in Jamaica]”.

“She is always on the phone with me, and I can recall once she said I just didn’t sound right to her, like she thought I was giving up,” Alicia shared. “She booked a flight and arranged for my friends to come over and have this huge celebration for me to try to lift my spirit. She had somebody make me a dress.”

Danille believes this was the moment her younger sister’s perspective shifted as she fought the disease.

“I remember at one point I felt I was going to lose her… And I was like, ‘Devil, I refuse to watch her pine herself away.’

“It was approaching her birthday in May of 2023. I quickly put a surprise birthday plan in action and I flew to Jamaica and surprised her — got her dolled up and reminded her of the woman she is, the queen she is, the phenomenal being that God has created and that this diagnosis is not onto death but she is going to weather the storm, and it is okay to have down days but when she gets strength, get back up and let’s continue fighting,” said Danille.

She added: “I believe that helped to shift her through the process in just saying, ‘You are not alone; you are loved beyond measure.’ She felt beautiful looking at herself; she embraced her bald head… I strongly believed that that little act just really made a difference.”

Alicia also had high praises for the National Health Fund (NHF) which, she said, helped cut her bill from over $50,000 — after paying in full for her medication the first time she did chemotherapy — to about $4,000 when she got the NHF card.

“Your body is going through this stress… [so] for you to [also] say you cannot afford your medication, and you can’t do the chemotherapy without the drugs… they just take away that pressure off of you,” said Alicia.

“I really, really appreciate it and I will always sing them praises; the service was top-notch for somebody who is helping out,” she added.

Having weathered the storm and come out on the other side, Alicia’s family was earlier this year readying to travel to Jamaica to celebrate her victory over the disease that is the most prevalent cancer among Jamaican women, when they learnt that Mesha has breast cancer.

“We are all in planning stage in January, lo and behold in February this demon came knocking at our front door. So, again, it’s as if God says, ‘Okay strongest family, come on, I’m calling you back to the front line. You are not done fighting,’ ” Danille told the
Sunday Observer. “And I’m like, ‘Are you serious? Are you telling me that we are going to have to do this again?’

“However, we know that if God allows it, it is for His glory and so while I felt anger when Alicia was diagnosed, I knew that I could not be angry again. I just had to praise God, because with my youngest sister, hers didn’t just come out of nowhere — she was screened, so it is something [for which] we knew she has the genes and, at some point, we knew that it would’ve become active, so we weren’t taken by surprise as we were with Alicia,” Danille said.

In the same way they got through all the other diagnoses, they are taking on the latest one as a family and with their strong faith in God.

It is this faith Danille, who has two daughters, is banking on for her own children’s future where this disease is concerned.

“I am not worried… I am a woman of faith and I’ve pleaded with the Lord and asked Him, ‘Please, let it end with me. Do not allow this to go in my blood lineage where it concerns my children and their children. I ask that it will remain cancer-free,’ ” said the 41-year-old who has now gone five years cancer-free.

“I just want to stay faithful, trust in God but not [be] foolish, so I will ensure that my kids stay on top of the necessary screening that is available to them at every stage possible, because we cannot keep a blind eye to the fact that it is something that is evident in our family…

“So, we are not taking any chance with anything, but at the same time we are going to stay faithful, prayed up, and have a positive attitude that my kids, my grandchildren, will never have to deal with a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime,” Danille told the Sunday Observer, her voice firm.

She is also thankful that, despite the disease diagnoses among the siblings, they are all still standing and can share their testimonies.

To women battling breast cancer and women in general, both Alicia and Danille offered words of encouragement and urged them to get the necessary screenings, especially if they are from a family that’s prone to the disease.

“Get your mammograms scheduled annually. Get your Pap smears scheduled as well, and also do your breast self-examination every month,” urged Danille.

Alicia added: “Don’t hold on to something that is going to end up hurting you. I have done the implants, you don’t have to be ‘breastless’ anymore.”