NICOLE, Trinidad & Tobago

Every interaction with a patient, deepens our inspiration to create more interventions and solutions whilst we elevate their healing journey together.

To say that my days with patients are ever predictable and that I can anticipate what each
patient encounter will be, is to reduce the power of embracing the uncertainty that is felt, until and unless we both can embrace a moment of trust.

Each time I interact with a patient, I am by extension and very intentionally interacting with their families, loved-ones, colleagues, peers and even with their wider community. 

And this is where I am continuously inspired to build relatable education, empowerment tools and programs with purpose and intentionality.

Our priority is to educate patients so they avoid inconvenient outcomes during this volatile time. 

Many times, what commences as an initially formal experience with patients, extends itself into a world interwoven and punctuated by the familiarity of what feels like old friends.

Community and care go hand in hand and sometimes, it is everything. 

And sometimes, community and care both overflow into something that starts off as a seemingly ‘random’ referral or introduction and finds its way into a deeper sense of teaching us something meaningful, even in a very unusual way – at the time of and during a patient exchange and, in the midst of a breast cancer diagnosis and during a recovery journey.

You see, to care for a woman-in-treatment following a breast cancer diagnosis, and especially immediately post-operatively, has many dimensions of which, one is engagement, the other is trust and one more of many is transparency.

And sometimes, the heartwarming experience of being invited to sit at the table as a guest of a client/patient is both heartwarming and sometimes awkward.
I will usually lean towards the heartwarming and embrace the awkward, even
in times of pressed schedules and prior confirmed commitments.

Connecting with women whose journeys are interrupted with the pause of breast cancer, gives us the urgency to get together and make the time for special occasions. 

The honour and joy of serving women especially as they are healing and the beauty of sharing in their strength as they show love, courage, hope and even as they conquer something that is fearful, is always an inspiration.

It is an honour and a distinct privilege to serve Caribbean women and to advance dignity in recovery.