64 is not an old age especially for Jamaicans where the average life expectancy is 74. But 64 year Beverley Sobah, a Jamaican woman living in the parish of Portland, seems to have come to terms with her pending death.
Beverley has been recently diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. She also lost her father and son to cancer. Her message to her dead son, “Ricky, I will soon be beside you, because now I have cancer too” says it all.
Sobah knows for the most part that the odds seems to be against her especially in a country with limited health care services.
Watch as she tells her story in the video below.
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At first doctors in Jamaica thought it was a sinus infection, then they referred her to a ENT clinic. It took months before a biopsy was done. More than a year later, the final diagnosis and Sobah had cancer.
Although Sobah’s cancer is rare, there are treatments that could help to improve her chances or at least her quality of life. Unfortunately Jamaica does not have the necessary medical equipment to treat this form of cancer.
In the meantime Sobah suffers in silence with only a sad reminder that she may soon be buried next to her dead son. I wish I could write the words to best describe how this Jamaican woman must be feeling but I can’t. There are no words. I can and you too, share this story in the hope that it leads to something positive.
If we truly want to be counted as a civilized society, we must at least ask those who lead our nation to give people like Sobah a chance when the odds are so heavily stacked against them. We must demand better health care for all Jamaicans rich and poor alike.
Story courtesy of Jamaica Observer VIDEO: Mom says she will join dead son soon
