TODAY is Cancer Survivors Day and internationally it is an event to raise awareness of cancer, sufferers and survivors.

The day is celebrated on the first Sunday in June every year and is dedicated to supporting survivors and improving their quality of life by providing advice, information and education to survivors and institutions of care.

It’s a day of celebration for all cancer survivors, their friends and families, and a day to raise awareness of cancer and how it affects lives. Its aim is to also provide hope for the newly diagnosed, support for affected families and outreach in the community.

Breast cancer survivor Cherane Hamilton shares with Jamaica Observer Your Health Your Wealth her journey in a nutshell:

Life is really a journey; it is like driving on a Jamaican road — you’re going on nice and easy then out of nowhere, when you least expect it, you drop in a big ‘ole pothole. That was what my cancer diagnosis felt like.

It was March 2020 when I found a lump in my breast that would change my entire life. It was just the wrong time to be diagnosed with cancer but what could I do?

This now began two years of surgery, chemotherapy, targeted treatment, prodding, poking and just waiting for the “light at the end of the tunnel” that other cancer survivors promised.

Even though I chose to take the scenic route in this journey, there were days of pain, emotional ups and downs, nausea and things that only other cancer survivors understand.

When I look at my scars, I chose to see victory, strength, bravery, God’s grace and a reminder that I am still here. The cancer journey doesn’t end with treatment. I still struggle to find balance in life at times but I have learned to be gentle with myself.

I don’t compare my journey with anyone else’s and I don’t let cancer define who I am. I am a survivor and still surviving. As my daughters taught me, “It’s okay not to be okay.”