By Claudine Housen, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU: WITH HER bubbly nature and disarming smile, anyone who meets Candice James could not even begin to guess at the hardships she has overcome.
A Cancerian, born July 1, 1982, at the Nuttall Memorial Hospital, St. Andrew, to parents Major Owen James and Lorna Davis, Ms. James developed Acute Myeloid Leukemia at the tender age of ten.
"When I just got sick I was here, in Jamaica, I did the tests here. After a couple months they found out that it was actually cancer," she said.
Always an active child, Candice told the Gleaner that it took some time for the doctors to figure out that she had cancer.
"The doctors thought it was arthritis or something because I
was very active in school. I did dancing and track and all that," said Candice. "They told me to stop those activities and then I did some tests. Then they found out it was cancer and when the doctors at the University of the West Indies tested, they found out that it was acute myeloid leukaemia. I did treatment there for a year and then I went into remission."
Childhood acute myeloid leukaemia is often hard to diagnose because the early signs may be similar to other diseases with symptoms such as fever, persistent weakness, and swollen or aching bones.
FINDING STRENGTH
During this period Candice attributed her strength in part to a little ignorance about what was happening to her, her sunny attitude and the love of her parents and friends.
"I was told that even when I was sick I was the one helping them (her family) through it because no matter what, I kept smiling. To an extent I didn't understand what I was going through but I just kept myself going," she said. " My father and my mom (step mom Charmaine James) were always there and my mom (birth mom) also because she came down when I was sick as well. They used to rotate to see who stays with me at night."
"I hated hospital food and they used to bring food for me. I used to enjoy it. It was like they tried to make it more homey being that I was not at my home and they tried to be positive for me as well."
Candice's remission was short-lived, however, as she soon developed cancer again, this time, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
"After I went into remission I had a relapse and I had to go overseas for the medication because at that time they had to be shipping chemotherapy from the US to Jamaica (for cancer patients)," said Candice. "They suggested that I go to America for treatment so I went to where my mom was. She was living in New Jersey then." While in the United States, Candice stayed with her mother, Lorna Davis, step father, Larry Davis, and became a patient at the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Jersey.
DISASTER STRIKES
"I came up and I stayed there (with her mother) for two years. I went to school while I was with her and then I went into hospital for a while. When I was in the hospital I had a tutor," she said. I was in America for three years up until I was 14 turning 15. I had cancer for roughly four years," she said. Beating the disease for the second time one would have thought that Candice would be on the home stretch but tragedy struck again, this time with someone close to her.
"While I was staying with my step dad and mom she got sick (with cancer) also. She passed away from it."
"She got sick after I got ill," Candice said. " When I just started being in remission, that is when she got sick. Before she passed away though, she had my little baby brother Nicholas Davis. She passed away a year and a month after he was born.'
"It was hard, but when you look at it in some sense it is like the Lord worked it out in a way that I could get time to spend with her before she ended up passing away because with me being in Jamaica and she being in America we never really got much time together."
A real survivor, Candice took her illness, and the subsequent loss of her mother, in strides, and she credits her father and his quiet reminders about God as a part of what helped to get her through.
"I never really knew much about religion itself but I grew up in the church, my father made sure that all his children went to church on Sunday," she said. " He always taught that Jesus loves you and that Jesus will always be there for you and it sticks in your head."
"At one point I would question myself and ask why would He do this to me. I was just a child and I wanted to live like a normal child so why did He put me in a situation like this? As you grow older though, you realise that everything happens for a reason and usually it is a good reason."
"I am now a Christian. I became one when I was 16," she said. After all that, I realised that He did not have to make me live. I had a lot of friends in the hospital that didn't make it and I made it so far. I believe I have a purpose, that is one thing that my mom and step mom would say to me."
HIGH AMBITIONS
Presently a playmaker at the Sandals Royal Caribbean Hotel in St. James, Candice has her eyes set on becoming a Medical Doctor.
"When I was younger that was always my main goal," she said. What helps it even more was when I became sick. I want to become a paediatrician. I love children very much and they seem to like me somewhat, and when I saw what the doctors did for other children, while they were in the hospital, or even for me, I wanted the opportunity to do the same for other children."
Admittedly a little side tracked at the moment, Candice told the Flair that she plans to start school in September and was quick to add that her job, as a playmaker, helps to prepare her somewhat for her medical career.
"It (being a playmaker) helps in some sense," she said. " In that you have to be able to interact with different people, how to approach them, how to adjust. Being a doctor you are around a lot of people. You have to know how to work with the patients."
As a doctor Candice said she plans to build a hospital that specialises in Child cancer treatments.
A kind-hearted person with a happy disposition, Candice says she does not like to see people down and always feels the urge to cheer them up when she can.
"I try to help with their spirits. I don't like to see anyone down, even if you are a stranger because I don't believe that there could be something that bad to keep you down so long," she said.
"My being sick kind of helped other people to see that they can better their lives through struggles. My parents and my friends, seeing all that I went through, realised that if I could make it this far and still be here now, the little things that they make a fuss about is no big deal."
