Belizeans speak out about cancer

On the thirtieth of October it will be one year since Juliet Soberanis died after her valiant fight with cancer. This outspoken woman will be remembered this Saturday during the Cancer Walk from Ladyville to Belize City not only because she started the event and helped to form the Belize Cancer Society, but because she encouraged so many Belizeans to break their silence about the disease. Tonight as part of Cancer Awareness Month, News Five is pleased to introduce you to several Belizeans whose lives have been affected by the disease. Although they outwardly have little in common, they share the unshakable belief that there is something to be learned from even the very worst situations and that the only thing that truly matters in this world is the love and support we give others.

Tony Soberanis

“From the experience I had with my wife, she was never angry. She always said she had cancer for a purpose and the purpose she thought she had it for was to make Belize more aware of the disease. People were afraid to say they had cancer. She has brought that out from many people and now people are not afraid to say they have cancer.”

Juliet Soberanis may no longer be with us, but Belizeans will never forget her courage during the biggest challenge of her life. Eighty-seven year old Hazel Saldano is facing the same challenge. Like Soberanis she also wants to talk about her struggle. Saldano believed she had always taken good care of herself but three years ago, she began feeling strange and saw unusual changes in her body.

Hazel Saldano

“I drink my bush medicine but I say, that can’t be gas, those two things no make they come fat like when you pregnant, I was not going no where. You get me? But when those things, I say what is that, man? Me not pregnant… pregnant done with long time.” (laughs)

Hazel had her surgery shortly after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Unfortunately it was not enough. Her cancer has spread to her lungs, giving her shortness of breath. Excess fluid accumulated in her legs makes it difficult for her to walk. Hazel says her faith in God helps her to bear the pain.

Hazel Saldano

“Sometime across here is so tight… tight like when they tie something so and they draw you so.

Me not worrying about nothing, you know; me not worry about not one thing. I just worry when I can’t get a piece of bread and some rice. I no worry over not one thing. Everything is with the Lord with me. Tomorrow? Well girl, I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.”

Like many cancer patients, Karl Menzies doesn’t know what tomorrow will bring either but he isn’t afraid to say he’s had cancer.

Karl Menzies

“Why hide it? And why not tell the world and advise people for your own good? It’s your own life, you’re saving yourself, you’re prolonging your life and you’re making yourself happier and healthier, because there is no disgrace in having cancer.”

After years of normal checkups, the sixty-six year old was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994.

Karl Menzies

“I asked the doctor what are my chances and he says, well, your chances are one hundred percent because you’ve been discovered early.

He told me I could take chemo or I could take radiation but many times, two years time and they are right back again and he would suggest that I take the surgery and have it out once and for all.”

As soon as he was out the hospital, Karl got on the phone, calling everyone he knew urging them to get checkups. Karl has continued his visits to the doctor and up until this July, he was still cancer free. He hasn’t taken anything for granted.

Karl Menzies

“God has been good to me, he has spared my life and has spared me the agony from going through cancer and dying from cancer and I understand that in most cases, it’s a very painful death. So I decided to go on a campaign and advise people whether friend or foe. I think I owe it to the good Lord.”

Karl found comfort in knowing what was happening with his body. He does not regret his experience with the disease.

Karl Menzies

“I’m feeling even younger than I was five years ago. And I’m sorry I’m still too young to die.” (smiles)

But you’re never too young to get cancer. When thirty-year-old Debbie Alvarado started feeling sick, she brushed it off.

Debbie Alvarado

“The symptom was when time I go sleep at night, cause I usually sleep with brassiere at the time and I noticed a spot of blood. That was when I knew something was wrong.”

Q: “What was going through your head?”

Debbie Alvarado

“Fly. At the time I really thought it was flies. You know fly bite you at night and you kill, cause it was only a little spot of blood and I was thinking a fly really likes my breast. At the time that was what I used to think: fly like my breast. But then like one morning tell me squeeze it, and when I squeeze it, you know like when you’re pregnant and you breast feed baby, the blood just fly and that was when I decided, something really wrong.”

When she heard Juliet Soberanis in a televised interview, describe similar symptoms, Debbie decided to see a doctor. In April of 1997, the mother of eight was told she had breast cancer. Like Hazel and Karl, she placed her faith in God.

Debbie Alvarado

“Tell you the truth, everything happen too quick… I was never thinking. All I was thinking when doctor tell me I needed a surgery, cause two choices they give me: either take out the lump or have the surgery. I decided to have the surgery. I read the Bible the whole time.”

Q: “Were you thinking about your kids?”

Debbie Alvarado

“Yeah at the time I knew they were safe with my sister. But then like a mind tell me read Job, the Book of Job and I read from the beginning to end. Forty-two verses and believe me I went to sleep and when time to take it, it never feel no way.”

Debbie has good and bad days. She says the support of her husband and her friends has been vital to her fight.

Debbie Alvarado

“It makes me feel good. It makes me have more faith. He’s a man who no just loves you for how you look, he loves you for within. You just can’t love a woman for what’s outside of a person, because it’s not what’s outside that counts; it’s what’s inside.

They make me feel much better because to go through this by yourself is no joke especially if you are by yourself.”

Tony Soberanis

“I think the best thing for you to do is to be there for the person that has the cancer; be there for them, every minute of them as much as you can, give them all the support they need and comfort. It’s a very painful thing and they need that support from you. One of the biggest lessons I learnt from that was to be closer to my family, spend more time with them.”

The Belize Cancer Society is determined to not let anyone go through cancer alone. Members of the society have become “mobile missionaries,” delivering one on one care each week to cancer patients. They say the happiness they bring to others fuels their work. It was hard for one missionary to tell her own story with cancer.

Nina Reneau

“At first it was very, very hard. It was like it was the end of the world but then I had my family beside me and my husband was very supportive and my children and my church, were very, very supportive, especially the priest. He was always at my side and we prayed a lot and the congregation was with me and after that I just put it in the Lord’s hand.”

Nina became a founding member of the Belize Cancer Society, dedicating herself to cancer awareness.

Nina Reneau

“If you go early, then you could be cured but when you sit down there and you keep it to yourself and you hide it I think that’s very bad. And when you do realize to bring it out, often times, it’s too late.

That’s why I go around, to show people that cancer is not the end of the world, nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody would go to the market and buy cancer; it’s something that is given to us, for what reason it’s given to us, we don’t know.”

Lillian August got involved with the Cancer Society after a fellow nurse succumbed to the disease. She realized how vital attention was to the patient. On her visits, Lillian does whatever she can to help.

Lillian August

“We would try to meet the patients’ needs, try to get their prescription filled, take them to the doctor when it is necessary. If they have any little errands or little things that they need and they can’t get out and get it and don’t have anybody, we’d go and do it for them also. Whatever we can help them with, we would try and help them and if they need any immediate care, we’d try and do it for them too at the homes.”

Tony Soberanis

“A lot of people need to realize that there is life after cancer. You have cancer, yes, it might be terminal but you still have a life to lead. You have God in your life, you have your family, you have your kids and that’s what you need.”

Debbie Alvarado

“I think women out there need to realize it could happen to anybody. It could happen to anyone of us. And girls, whether young or old, if you need to talk to anybody… we are here for you.”

Janelle Chanona for News Five.

The President of the Belize Cancer Society Laura Longsworth says that last year seven hundred people participated in the Cancer Walk and they expect this many or more this Saturday. If you would like to join the walk, buses leave the Pound Yard at four a.m. and the walk will begin at five in front of Celina’s in Ladyville. It ends at the Save-U Plaza. Longsworth says the Belize Cancer Society is continuing its public awareness and education campaigns and hopes to have its permanent headquarters constructed within a year.