IT was indeed a pink affair at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston last Thursday as hundreds of cancer advocates and survivors joined in celebration of the annual staging of the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS)/Jamaica Reach to Recovery Keeping Abreast Luncheon.

The fund-raising event, which signals the end to a month-long suite of activities organised in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness, has been a part of the 60-year-old Jamaica Cancer Society for the last two decades.

The celebratory affair has focused on breast cancer survivorship and solidarity with the cause, with proceeds it being primarily invested in ongoing screening and education as well as public awareness among the populace.

However, this year, executive director of the Jamaica Cancer Society, Yulit Gordon, has committed to utilising funds to providing assistance to cancer patients who are financially handicapped and unable to access crucial treatment.

“Over the past year, we have noticed a steady increase in the number of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who are underserved and very vulnerable, and are in desperate need of chemotherapy and radiation. These are women who are not employed and they do not have access to health insurance. But they need treatment, so are making an effort to allocate some of the funds from the Keeping Abreast Luncheon to the treatment fund,” Gordon stated.

This effort was supported chairman of the Jamaica Cancer Society and general manager of associate sponsor Jamaica National, Earl Jarrett, who emphasised the need to provide assistance for cancer patients. “Treating cancer is expensive. The assistance provided through this fund-raiser activity could assist a family in large part, and so we remain committed to an effort to educate and to encourage persons to screen for cancer,” Jarrett told the Sunday Observer.

Guest speaker at the event, renowned international actress, singer, and activist Sheryl Lee Ralph brought a message of self-empowerment, self-love and care for others as she sought to inspire hope within attendees.

“Too many women are not happy being the fabulous woman that they are. You must love yourself to set yourself up in life. You have to be the type of woman that can get up and talk to yourself and believe in yourself, because in order to set yourself up in life you must love yourself first,” Ralph said.

She encouraged women to engender a culture of love through self-bonding and developing a healthy relationship with themselves.

“You have to love her, respect her, care for her, treat her right, hug her, and remind her that everything will be alright,” Ralph advised.

She said that having developed this healthy relationship with themselves, women should become more comfortable with touching themselves and doing self-checks, something that many women have shied away from, resulting in many of them failing to detect cancer in its early stages.

“Why is it that women have breasts and can’t touch them,” Ralph asked guests as she paused to examine and hold and caress hers in a move to encourage women that it is normal and acceptable for them to ‘touch themselves.

“You have to become a woman who is not afraid of touching your breasts, of going into the shower and to hold and to press your breasts to check for those unwanted lumps. We have to be prepared to detect early so that we can get the necessary treatment and fight for our selves if we must,” Ralph encouraged.

Ralph did not have to impart the message on the importance of early detection alone, as Vice Chairman of the Jamaica Cancer Society Michael Fraser, in delivering the vote of thanks, did not merely salute the contributors at the function and the events execution team. He also brought a message of self-care as he encouraged cancer survivors and those who are battling the life-threatening disease to ensure that they remain in control of their health. He encouraged women, especially at age 40, to ensure that they get their mammograms done and in general screen for cancer.

Breast cancer has been identified as the leading cause of death among Jamaican women.