Breast cancer survivor Shernett Annon chooses life, laughter and love

WESTERN BUREAU:

As a breast cancer survivor of 16 years, Shernett Annon, managing director of Shipping Services of Jamaica, says she has developed a greater appreciation for life, having experienced firsthand the pain of inadequate support from loved ones while managing the disease.

“I think I am a better person now because, before I was diagnosed with cancer, every single day when I got up, I would not see the day as special. But every day now is special, and every little moment is a happy moment,” Annon said last Thursday while addressing a Zoom meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay, held in recognition of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“This experience has given me a fuller life because I cannot take it for granted. Living with cancer is like living with a loaded gun clicking at your ears every day, and sometimes you feel some pain, and you wonder, ‘Lord, what is this?’,” Annon continued. “A positive way to deal with this, or with any situation in life, is to just trust that there is a God and He knows your heart, and to ask Him for what you desire and trust that He will give it.”

According to the Ministry of Health and Wellness, breast cancer is the most common cancer among Jamaican women, with 1,208 new cases diagnosed in the country in 2020. The Global Cancer Observatory also ranks breast cancer as the second most common cancer in Jamaica, behind prostate cancer.

For Annon, her breast cancer journey began on February 15, 2010, when she visited her doctor complaining of feeling run down.

“I remember just feeling listless and a bit lethargic, what you would describe as flu-like symptoms. I went to the doctor, who told me I needed rest, and he gave me a muscle relaxer and some multivitamins,” she said. “Then, two days after taking the muscle relaxer, a lump came into my breast from nowhere; I was just hanging up the phone after a call, and my arm brushed against my left breast, and there was a lump.

“On February 22, just a week after my first doctor visit, I was told to do a blood test and a mammogram. I went the same day and I did the mammogram, and while the young lady was doing the mammogram on me, her whole expression changed and she said, ‘I’m going to have to ask the chief radiologist to do an ultrasound on you’,” Annon continued. “The radiologist did the ultrasound, and she said, ‘My God in Heaven, I’ve seen this before, and this is not good’.”

Test results soon confirmed that the lump in Annon’s breast was cancerous. She subsequently underwent chemotherapy and eventually had a mastectomy to remove her breast and the affected tissue.

Withdrawal of support

However, the ordeal was compounded by the gradual withdrawal of support from friends and a period of homelessness while she was managing her illness.

“In the early stages, I had lots of people coming to look for me, and church people that I know were coming to pray with me,” she explained. “But I ended up praying for them, because they will look at how you do not have your hair and you look sick, and everybody is afraid that you are going to die, and people write you off, and when you need people most, you cannot find them. I went through divorce and lost homes and was made homeless, even while battling with the cancer.”

Annon credits her faith in God and her determination to focus on the positive aspects of life as contributing factors to her well-being in the years since her diagnosis and treatment.

“I celebrated my 60th birthday this past May, and I had a whole week of celebration, plus I invited my friends out and we all had breakfast. Everybody’s journey is different, but with God all things are possible, and He knows what is going to happen to you in life,” she said. “You can choose if every experience you have will make a better you or a worse you, and I would say you should choose life, choose laughter, choose love, and allow the experience to make you a better you.”

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com