Remembering a fighter
Misty Blue’s Satchwell pleased with response to Faith Gifford Breast Cancer Symposium, honours foundation co-founder
Published:Saturday | October 18, 2025 | 12:09 AMMickalia Kington/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
When Dorothy Satchwell spoke with The Gleaner Thursday evening, at the Faith Gifford Breast Cancer Symposium, she couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the turnout.
“The support for the event made me happy. I think it was good,” she said. “We had a target of 150 and when I was coming this morning I was at 141. And on top of the 141 I think most persons came and the level of engagement, I think it was good.”
Satchwell, founder of the Misty Blue Cancer Care Foundation, said this year’s symposium was not just about raising awareness as she also intended to spark a national conversation.
“The aim was for us to have practitioners, scientists (and) researchers bring the information to the fore and to have engagement, and I think that happened today,” she said. “We are going to be formulating information so that we can share it with the ministry.”
The event honoured the late Faith Gifford, who co-founded the foundation and dedicated her life to supporting cancer patients across Westmoreland.
“Faith started with us when we started in 2015,” Satchwell recalled. “Other than when Faith was sick, we have never had an event and Faith wasn’t there. Every October, when nobody is there, Faith was there with me. She had a passion, she had a drive.”
Satchwell only had memories of her friend’s selflessness, which she admired.
“She hears about somebody, she goes to look for them, she boils soup for them, she makes drinks for them, she does something. Which is what it’s all about. The same thing that we preach, she was teaching it,” she said.
Meanwhile, Faith’s husband, Kelvin Gifford, found bittersweet comfort in the symposium.
“I feel great and this was a very beautiful thing for me because I was grieving, and this lifted me up,” he said. “It helped me that I can be stronger.”
Kelvin remembered every detail of his wife’s cancer journey, from the first lump discovered in 2013, to years of remission, to the heart-breaking relapse.
“She lived over 12 years cancer free,” he said. “Then one evening she came in and said to me, she don’t like how her stomach feel... . When we do the scan, doctor look at it and tell me, he sees a mass in her chest.”
Faith fought bravely as the cancer spread, first to her liver, then her underarm, and eventually to her bones.
“When it move to the bone, you know say, that’s it,” Kelvin said quietly. “But she always hide it from me because she know that me have a heart problem.”
MEMORIES
He recalled tenderly making her porridge in her final days.
“She say to me say, she hungry. Me say, what you want? She say she want some porridge. Me go there and make the porridge... . She drink it and say, ‘It taste good, you know, but only say it lumpy lumpy’.”
His voice trembled as he described the morning she passed, after spending a long day by her side.
“When I went there, a doctor told me she just passed 10 minutes after 1, and I closed her eyes.”
Kelvin had slipped away to get a meal for the first time in hours but sadly returned to hear that he was five minutes too late.
Through tears, Kelvin urged other men to stand by their partners.
“Men must treat their wife good, whether they’re sick or not sick, because I make a vow,” he said. “Men to play a big part in their wife sickness. They can’t just leave everything for the woman.”
Faith’s sister, Kay Irving, who also survived cancer, said her sister’s personality was “beyond words”.
“People person, lover of persons, no matter who you are,” she said.
Continuing, she said, “Helpful, community, church, outreach, wherever it was, she could pitch in a hand, she would help.”
As a survivor, Kay said she feels elated to continue her sister’s work.
“Since I’m a survivor myself, I love to bring awareness. Even myself do presentations in and around,” she said.
Satchwell, meanwhile, said the symposium marked only the beginning of a deeper push for change.
“When Dr [Patruick] Roberts spoke about genetics and Dr [Lincoln] Cox talked about the cases he has, it gave us an understanding of what is happening,” she said. “It was a full package (and) I think we are equipped to start our journey.”
However, although Faith’s journey has ended, Kelvin shares that her mission and legacy continues.
“I lost a wife, I lost a mother, I lost a sister,” he said.
“But she live a good life... and I don’t see no woman in the world right now who could take my wife’s place.”