Mrs Rowley: Early detection key to cancer fight

SHARON Rowley, wife of the Prime Minister, stressed the importance of taking precautionary measures to reduce the damage of cancer having endured pain from the disease through the loss of her mother ten years ago.

Rowley was speaking on the second and final day of the Cancer Care Protocols and Guidelines Workshop at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain on Tuesday.

Rowley, who is the patron of Caribbean Association of Oncology and Haematology, said, “Cancer is a word that instantly instils fear and helplessness. It is a word that disrupts families, and causes pain and suffering. It is a word that for many means the end of life.

“But we must remember that cancer is a word and not a sentence. It is important that we do all our best to ensure that it is not a death sentence.” Rowley knows the pain cancer can cause after losing her mother a decade ago.

“Cancer is a disease which caused me intense pain when I lost my mother to colon cancer in 2008. She died within one month of diagnosis. I have lost my aunt to stomach cancer, two uncles to prostate cancer and a brother in law to colorectal cancer. He was only 46. The painful reality is that whether it’s our mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, sons or daughters, cancer will touch many of our lives in some way.”

Rowley said cancer does not discriminate as anyone can be impacted by the disease. “From lawyer to doctor, from teacher to janitor, from calypsonian to Prime Minister. It can spread its tentacles. Let me take a minute to remember our own Lord Superior who died on Sunday, a victim of cancer.”

Rowley encouraged cancer survivors to speak to others about the dangers of cancer and to stress the importance of early detection.

“To those of you who are cancer survivors, I ask you to reach out to persons and make them aware of the disease and the need for screening. Early detection is the key. Death can be prevented through regular screening and treatment. If we are to reduce the prevalence of death and disability from cancer we all have a responsibility. It is a personal responsibility and a societal responsibility.”