By Tangerine Clarke
The testimony of Guyanaborn,
Priyadarshani Gordon,
a cancer survivor, is a fitting
example of courage, strength
and determination. Since age
26, Gordon has been in the
fight of her life, taking a daily
cocktail of medication to treat
the deadly disease, that is now
in many parts of her body.
Gordon, lovingly called Marcia,
an only child for her mom,
told Caribbean Life, recently,
from her home in Elmont,
Long Island, that despite side
effects of the drugs, and a seizure,
which she recently had,
she stays busy.
She fixes puzzles, creates
decoupage, and plays an integral
part in assisting with
the Health and Education
Relief Organization / Cancer
(HEROC), the organization,
that supports her well-being.
“I am doing good, and enjoying
life one day at a time,” she
says, with a smile that lights
up a room. She stays positive,
despite the battles she faces.
Thanks to a demonstration
she had at school, a routine
self-examination helped Gordon
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to find two lumps in her
right breast.
This did not send her into a
panic, because as a biology student
back then at Bishop’s High
School, in Georgetown, she
understood the body makeup,
and knew that fibrotic breast
was not always a negative diagnosis.
However, she followed
up with an appointment at
the Cancer Institute in Georgetown,
and enquired about
doing of a biopsy. However,
an ultrasound instead, cleared
her of any malignancy. This
inspired Gordon to get on with
her busy routine and later that
year traveled to China, for a
planned Agro-Forestry seminar
.T
he young woman, who
was already a Sunday School
teacher, and in her last year
of becoming a lay preacher,
explained that during her
return flight from Asia, felt
as if everything was spinning
around her. “I thought it was
maybe jet lag.”
At the same time, she already
had in place a well-deserved
vacation, along with her mother,
Alexandria, to travel to the
United States. But shortness of
breath sent Gordon back to the
doctor after she arrived in Guyana.
The examination showed
her left breast had increased in
size that led to a biopsy, and a
three-week wait for the result.
In pain, and stitches yet to
be dissolved, the young woman
traveled to America, and while
here, her trusted friend, a doctor,
advised her on the diagnosis
of Stage 2 breast cancer.
Humanitarians Dr. John
Mitchell and Dr. Harrison
Mitchell founders of the
Health and Education and
Relief Organization (HERO)
and Lorna Welshman-Neblett,
president of HEROC, immediately
embraced Gordon, who
said she knew God was and is
in charge.
After another biopsy, she
was diagnosed with Stage 3
cancer that progressed to Stage
4 within a month.
Alexander Gordon, left, with her daughter, Priyadarshani
“Marcia” Gordon enjoying a HERO/C event in Brooklyn.
Photo by Tangerine Clarke
Gordon’s prognosis was dismal
at best, but her determination
to fight has brought
her to this point after a double
mastectomy surgery, several
sessions of radiation, bouts of
chemotherapy, and the loving
support from her mother, Alexandria
Gordon, second mother,
Lorna Welshman-Neblett, and
multitude friends, who are constantly
by her side.
A woman of courage: Cancer
survivor, Priyadarshani Gordon
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