Housekeeper bravely fighting breast cancer

Although Dionne Livermore felt a lump in her left breast in April 2020, doctors told her that she had little or nothing to worry about.

Despite receiving welcoming news, the 55-year-old Hope Bay, Portland, resident said her spirit was bothered as the painless lump began growing. Today, she is putting up a fierce battle against stage 1B breast cancer. This means that the cancer is small and is found only in the breast tissue or lymph nodes close to the breast.

"[One day] I came home from work and was lying on my back and I felt a small lump. I read a lot so the lump was of concern to me but I didn't say anything to anybody. I was heading to work a few days later and I stopped at the clinic and I got a referral to do the mammogram. I waited on the result for over seven months and didn't get the result. The lump wasn't getting any bigger. The lump was still there and by this time a year had passed and it started getting bigger, but another mammogram cleared me," she said.

Livermore said she consulted another doctor as not only did the lump grow to the size of an adult fist, but her breast had got extremely painful. Her doctor recommend that she do a biopsy which revealed that the lump was cancerous.

"It [the breast] was so painful that I could not sleep at nights. My breast was swollen to the point where it was expressing pus and blood. It had bacteria in it and it was just so painful. The doctors said I needed urgent surgery but every time I call a facility the cost would be close to or $2 million. I started attending the clinic at KPH [Kingston Public Hospital] and it was there that I realised how many persons were suffering from cancer," she said.

Thanks to the contributions of her loved ones including her employers, Livermore was able to have a mastectomy done at a private medical facility in February. However, she still needs chemotherapy to kill any underlying cells still in tissue. Livermore started chemotherapy three weeks ago and although it has worn her down, she said she is back on the job as a housekeeper.

"Chemotherapy really shook me and I have only done one session already. When I went to the hospital to get it done, it was smooth sailing. I didn't throw up like the others so I thought everything was going to be okay. I thought it was going to be good to me, but a day later it was like my entire body shut down. I didn't know I was going to live to see daylight. Up until now I have lost my sense of taste. My body felt numb for like two weeks; I could hardly put a foot in front the other," Livermore said.

"By the 12th day, my hair had began falling out but I am not even bothering myself with that. I returned to work last week and I am just trying to live a normal life while I fight this disease. I am encouraging others to do the same as well even when it seem so difficult. Let us fight this together," she added.