Karla Baptiste is helping her father’s Caribbean birthplace. In 2007, not long after fulfilling her dream of living in France, Baptiste was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 34.
She had just received her MBA and, like most new graduates, she was on top of the world and thinking ‘The best is yet to come!’ “I could not have been more optimistic. I never would have thought I would be battling breast cancer the following year!” she said. The cancer diagnosis was a shocker to say the least but she took solace in knowing that if her life were to end soon she had no regrets. She had followed her dream and lived it up in Paris like it was her last chance.
Another dream of Baptiste’s was to become an author. When she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, she began reading breast cancer memoirs which only took the reader through treatment. Baptiste was always left wondering ‘what happened next?’. This inspired Baptiste to publish her own story. She started writing her memoir, Dig in Your Heels: The Glamorous (and Not So) Glamorous Life of a Young Breast Cancer Survivor, a couple of years after being diagnosed.
During the months of February and March, Baptiste will use her book and her crowdfunding chops to help raise money to establish an oncology center in her father’s birthplace, St. Vincent and the Grenadines— an island country in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. Baptiste had always intended to use her memoir to give back.
Typically, ten percent of the proceeds from the sale of Dig in Your Heels goes to breast cancer research and outreach. However, upon learning that cancer patients in her fatherland often forgo treatment and die because there isn’t a treatment center on the island, she wanted to give in a bigger way. The closest place to receive treatment for Vincentians is Trinidad making the cost and inconvenience of travel a hindrance to receiving care.
In February, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Medical Association launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise money for the new oncology center. Their goal is $250,000. “When I heard about the goal, I wished that I had sold more books so that I could fund the entire center myself. But after I thought about it, I realized that I could give 100% of my net proceeds now. Maybe my commitment to be “all in” would inspire others to give big too.” said Baptiste. “I know what it’s like to go through a cancer battle and it’s important to receive care close to your loved ones and not have to worry about added expenses. Having cancer is burden enough.”
For more check out Dig In Your Heels Website
