‘She lef’ a pain inna mi heart’ - Woman rues sibling hiding cancer diagnosis

If Althia Turner had one regret, it's that her beloved sister Valris did not tell her and their family that she was battling cancer until it was far advanced.

"She lef' a pain inna mi heart man, memba mi tell yuh," said Turner, the tears filling her eyes as she spoke about Valris, who she called her closest sister. Valris, who was fondly known as 'Aneta', died on September 11 from stage-four breast cancer. She was only 55. She lived in West End, Rocky Point, Clarendon, all her life and was known by her family and community members for her jovial personality.

"She always laughing, she wasn't an arrogant person ... she just cool," Turner said as she reflected on her sister.

She lamented that despite her close bond with their family, Valris kept her diagnosis a secret. She added that while her sister was in the hospital, she refused to tell her family what was wrong. It wasn't until her daughter was called to collect some test results that the family discovered her diagnosis three weeks after her admission to the hospital.

"She always look sick, and all the while wi ask har, 'Aneta, wha happen to yuh?' She always a tell wi seh a gas, gastroenteritis a trouble har. She know seh she sick, because the breast deteriorate til it gone right in, a only the nipple lef' out a door. She even pad di breast at one moment, pad it so that no one nuh detect seh sumpn wrong," Turner said.

She said that the family would have preferred to worry about trying to help Valris, rather than worry about her burial.

"A we she nuh wah stress out, but a di end a di day a we a stress ... suh mek wi stress fi spend money fi get yuh betta, 'cause the amount a money now weh wi a spend fi bury yuh, a nuh nutten fi spend it fi get yuh better. Mi wish a suh it did a happen. It grieve mi bad, mi cah stop cry," Turner said.

She added that while Valris was in the hospital, she revealed that she had been battling the disease for a long time and realised she made a mistake by keeping it a secret.

"Mi upset wid har 'cause she sick and neva really tell wi, yuh understand. She lef' pain, pain inna mi heart, man...a mi closest sister from day one," Turner said.

She said that she would have done anything to help her sister survive the disease, no matter the cost.

"Mi woulda sell all mi life, too ... just fi get har betta, fi she deh yah right now, 'cause right now if she was alive, she deh right yah suh wid mi. A mi one sister and mi love har dearly, and it grieve me fi know how she really gone," Turner said.

She is also encouraging others who have been diagnosed with the dreaded disease not to keep their sickness a secret, but to let their family and friends know, so that they can assist them in the battle.

"Nuh secretive 'bout nutten, man. Yuh nah guh walk a tell di world seh yuh sick, but di closest people to yuh, yuh family, yuh friends," Turner said.