KINGSTON, Jamaica — After watching his strong, lively mother deteriorate following a cancer diagnosis, Steve Billings, chief executive officer (CEO) of Sun City Radio, is urging that the mental toll on cancer patients not be ignored.

Describing his mother, Doreen, as a strong black woman, Billings lamented the change that her cancer diagnosis in October wrought.

“I realised that my mom started to transform, she now started to become a new woman that I’ve never experienced before, you know, soft-spoken voice, low self-esteem,” he said.

Speaking at the launch of the Jamaica Reach to Recovery Pink Run on Tuesday, Billings explained that sponsoring the run this year was an emotional experience because of her journey.

“Now she was diagnosed in October 2024, and by December, December 13 to be exact, she did a [surgery]. After that surgery was completed, it was a success.  We all thought it was peace and safety…”

“We had a grand Christmas, and 2025 started, and we put the thought of cancer behind us, and by February 13, my mom came to me and she said, ‘I think it come back’… when she was diagnosed in October,  it was stage two cancer.  By the 13th of February…it didn’t come back at stage two, but stage four.”

Even so, Billings said her spirit remained strong, with her son describing her as “very unruly” to laughs from the audience.

“One of the things that they don’t tell us is that after a while, the kids now become their parents’ parents. Nobody had notified me about that at all, and my mom was very unruly, very unruly to say the least,” Billings said, with obvious fondness for his mother in his voice.

It was after the second diagnosis that Billings said the most obvious changes became apparent, as she became more withdrawn.

Describing her love for pizza, KFC and Red Stripe, he shared how painful it was to experience the changes in his mom.

“The strong black woman who grew me up, I witnessed her having rapid weight loss. I witnessed her becoming so antisocial, and for me to be there first-hand, seeing everything, it’s a very traumatic experience.”

Following several complications, Doreen Billings passed away in May 2025, less than a year after her first diagnosis. Billings said since then, his awareness of the pervasiveness of cancer has increased tremendously.

“I have a friend, his dad passed away in June, prostate cancer;  I have another friend, his mom passed away in July, breast cancer, and up to last week, [August] I got a call from a friend in Barbados,  saying that his mom passed away, lung cancer, and she’s not a smoker, never smoked a cigarette in her life.”

The CEO explained that while his mother’s illness, ovarian cancer, differed from the mandate of JR2R, which is breast cancer, he is now committed to using his platform to fight all cancers.

“If there are any other agencies that are embarking on anything cancer-related, please count in Sun City, please do not hesitate,” he said to significant applause from the audience, which included several cancer survivors.

“I’m not abreast with all the different agencies, but you can feel free to reach out to me and all of the Sun City team once it is cancer-related,” he promised.

In addition, Billings is encouraging men to be brave about getting their cancer screenings done, including for prostate cancer, which many men shy away from.

Doreen Billings (Photo: Sun City Radio Instagram)