June-Ann Furbert thought she was doing everything right when it came to her health.
Cancer had taken her mother and aunts, so she understood the importance of keeping a close watch on her own wellbeing.
As such, the diagnosis she received in 2014 came as a surprise: stage 3 aggressive breast cancer.
“It was shocking. And it was shocking because I thought I was doing all the right things,” Mrs Furbert said.
Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre was a huge source of support as she underwent surgery in Bermuda and spent several weeks being treated at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
Her Christian faith was equally important in helping Mrs Furbert, 76, come to terms with what lay ahead.
“I was devastated, but with the word of God, because of my belief, it helped me get through it.”
Her family, friends and church community rallied around her. One friend in Baltimore, Vanessa Moore, visited her at Johns Hopkins every single day.
“She spent those whole six to eight weeks with me out there in the hospital,” Mrs Furbert said. “Literally coming every day just to be my friend, just to be there for me.”
Another close friend, Janet Smith, was also by her side. Mrs Furbert finds it particularly poignant that Ms Smith has since died.
“She was there fighting with me for my life, and she’s already gone herself. So we just never know what we have in store in our lives.”
Loving care
Mrs Furbert remembers how kindly she was treated whenever she walked through the doors of Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre on Point Finger Road.
“I just know how much they just poured out and cared for me. They didn’t [treat me as if] I was just another person in there. They worked with me and talked with me and cared,” she said.
“And that was what I got — they cared about everybody that came in there, and they wanted to help. They wanted to do what they could do, and I’m grateful for that.”
She said the organisation is focused on ensuring everyone receives the care they need, regardless of their financial circumstances.
“They never turned me away. They just wanted to be sure that they could do the best they could for me.”
Although some days were difficult, Mrs Furbert was determined not to lose hope. She believes her optimism and positive mindset helped her through.
“The mind plays a part in your illness as well. I believe that if you’re down and you lose hope, that draws your body [down] too,” she said.
“Even though there were some hard days along the way I just kept praising God and my friends were praying too. I’m just truly thankful that I’m here today.”
Last month, more than a decade after her diagnosis, Mrs Furbert returned to the centre.
The staff she had known were not there, but she wanted the people now doing the work to know what it had meant to her.
“I just went in and I thanked them again because of what they did back in 2014,” she said. “I think thanking is very important, and I wanted to encourage them, to let them know that they [are appreciated].”
Paying it forward
Cancer also left Mrs Furbert with a greater awareness of the uncertainty of the future.
“It changed my life to a point. In a way it made me realise how life can be short, it can be long. You don’t know each day,” she said.
“It’s devastating when you get a scenario like that and you’re not sure what’s going on and how you’re going to do it, but it has made me a stronger individual.”
For someone who had already spent much of her life caring for others, that experience reinforced something that came naturally.
Mrs Furbert and her husband Alan raised 11 children between them. She has two biological children, her husband had two sons who came to live with them after they married, and together they fostered another seven.
That instinct to care for others continued long after their children became adults.
“I tend to help people,” she said. “I go to senior’s homes. I spend time with my neighbours who are seniors, even older than me, just to know that someone cares and that someone is there for them. Not everybody has somebody.”
Her own experience of needing other people only deepened that commitment.
“I’ve learned that even when I’m in pain, go to someone else who’s in pain because they need to know your story.”
Now in remission, Mrs Furbert is grateful to be able to live an active life.
“I can walk just like a 20-year-old, I can move about,” she said. “I’m just grateful that I’m here now and can continue to help others.”
When she hears that someone has cancer or is struggling, she will visit if she can, offer help and pray with them. Her cancer journey, she said, “just grew me to love even more and to care for others.”
Mrs Furbert believes cancer touches a significant number of families in Bermuda and that the island’s small size makes the work of organisations such as Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre particularly important.
“Cancer, for some reason, is a high situation in Bermuda and we’re such a small island. I’m just thankful for the part that they played in my journey.”
She hopes people and businesses able to support Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre will recognise the difference that support can make, particularly for people who may not have the network around them that she did.
“Many people don’t know where to go. This is an important aspect of lives being saved throughout Bermuda, lives being helped throughout Bermuda. Lives being given the chance, the opportunity to get help.”
More than a decade after her diagnosis, Mrs Furbert says the experience reinforced a lesson she now tries to put into practice every day.
“We have to realise that we’re here for a purpose, for a time. We don’t know what our time is, but we should use it wisely, use it in loving and caring for others.
“And that’s what I do.”
