Ms Fahie before (left) and after the makeover. Photo: VINO team of reporters

Manager of Umi Fashions, Deborah Reynolds-O’Neal, related that in an effort to empower the sisters in our community, they have decided to makeover from head to toe, one breast cancer survivor, Ms Gloria Fahie.

UMI will also donate 10% of all proceeds of their sales today, October 26, 2012 to the Breast Cancer Society of the BVI.

Ms Reynolds-O’Neal explained, “we think that breast cancer is a serious issue that faces the community and we try to embrace as part of our mission, the opportunity to shed light on this illness.”

She added, ”So many women are affected including our mothers, daughters and sisters and we felt the need to embrace any individual who has been able to overcome or is in the process of overcoming this illness.”

Ms Safrika O’Neal of Umi Fashions also revealed that Umi had done a fashion show last year and had a good response so they felt the need to definitely get involved again this year.

She explained, “This year [we] decided to do a makeover just so that we could make those women who are going through it or who've gone through it feel good about themselves.”

She noted that it was important to concentrate on the positive, and this was Umi’s way of giving back to the women of the community who've survived breast cancer.

Ms Fahie, who is a Social Security Board Inspector, related a moving tale of how she first experienced signs of the cancer about two and a half years ago and the subsequent steps she took for surgery, treatment and care.

She did both a mammogram and sonogram initially but both tests were inconclusive and insisted on repeating the tests several times over until she was certain.

She pointed out that it was important to have copies of results of the tests once it is done.

She then had a biopsy done to determine the actual presence and extent of the disease.

Ms Fahie revealed that when she finally got a conclusive diagnosis at St Thomas Radiology, she had mixed emotions and was also distraught for some time.

“At first I showed no emotion,” she said, but she related that in the afternoon after doing the test, she began to lose focus and became disconnected from events around her. She even had a minor vehicular accident as a result of feeling so out of touch.

She explained “When you are faced with a chronic disease, you’re not thinking straight,” and many of her actions during that time reflected her state of mind.

Her family in the US made an appointment to have surgery done at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where it was disclosed that even though the lump that was discovered was relatively tiny, there was a need to remove an entire breast.

The doctor explained to her that there was a risk of the disease spreading to other parts of her body over the next few years so it was important that the procedure was done.

This caused her some amount of apprehension and tears and she said the doctor was so moved by her reaction that he decided to speak with the radiologist to re-do the mammogram.

“Really deep down inside, I felt like he was giving me time to come to grips with what he had just told me,” she said of the experience.

Afterwards she had the operation done and felt some amount of relief once the surgery had been completed. Ms Fahie related it was the Center’s policy to have persons who had done surgery, look at the removed tissue before they leave as a measure of having the person come to grips with their new reality.

She explained that it was critical to have insurance when someone was about to treat cancer as “cancer is not a cheap disease”. Another important factor to consider was having the right support from family and friends as well as understanding employers for anyone stricken with breast cancer or any other disease for that matter.

“You gotta have a positive attitude” she said, noting that friends, family and even people who didn't know her were praying for her when she had the surgery done.

Gloria reasoned that the experience she had was not without purpose and said “I figure [the experience] was for me to help somebody, I’m supposed to be a helper to another person,” she said.

Her friends often chastise her for talking too much about it but she said this does not deter her, “I think if we have chronic diseases and chronic illnesses we are supposed to talk about it… help one another,” she said, “we are supposed to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers and that’s how I feel about life.”

She stressed before departing, that it was important to have a mammogram done as early as possible and suggested that it be done even as early as in your twenties as an earlier detection provided a greater chance of being able to battle the dreaded illness.