The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

aacadet@tribunemedia.net

ONE YOUNG woman's desire to bring awareness to cervical cancer has resulted in a movement inspired by family members and friends.

It was watching her very own mother battle and eventually losing her fight with cervical cancer last year at the age of 51, Dimarcia Bethel decided to find a silver lining out of her terrible tragedy.

Just a month after participating in the Miss Bahamas Universe contest this year, and placing first runner-up, Dimarcia, whose heart wrenching platform was focused on cervical cancer, rallied family and friends to create a walk-a-thon in memory of her beloved mother Deidre Bethel. The " Walk For The Cure" event held just recently gathered a great amount of family, friends and supporters, making it one to remember.

In an interview with Tribune Health, the twenty four year old said this is only the beginning, as her plan is to create a foundation that will not only spread awareness about cervical cancer, but will also endeavour to help those who are afflicted with this disease.

She reflects on the life of Deirdre, describing her as a kind, loveable soul, with enthusiasm for life and a master of organisation working in the financial services sector, where her last job was as the manager of the Harold Road branch of Bank of The Bahamas.

"She enjoyed cooking, especially curry and steam pork chop, writing, traveling, watching action movies and spending time with her family and friends. Readers would be surprised to know that under her quiet demeanour, she was actually the protector of the family. The saying goes 'all bark and no bite' did not apply to her, she had all the bite necessary if you messed with her or anyone in her family," said Dimarcia.

One of the most outstanding memories of her mother is a very simple but happy story.

"We were at a red light waiting for the light to change, her in the driver seat, me in the passenger seat, and the song, Can't Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake, comes on the radio. She proceeds to turn the volume up and starts to sing the words to the song. I had no idea that she even knew this song existed until this point. And then to my utter shock, she starts to dance in her seat, turns to me and then holds up a pretend microphone and continues to belt out the lyrics with such fever and passion that I burst out in laughter and then join her until the light turns green and we are driving once again. This is a strong memory for me simply because it reminds me of a happy moment in time, where it's just me and my mother doing something simple and carefree," said Dimarcia.

Dimarcia said her mom's final days are some of the days her family tend not to reflect on, because they are some of the most emotionally charged and somber days they all had with her. Towards the end of her life, Deirdre's body had started to shut down. She was constantly medicated for the pain, which resulted in her being drowsy and asleep for most of the time.

To honour her mom in such way through the walk-a-thon meant a great deal to Dimarcia, as keeping her mother's memory alive is most important.

"Although breast cancer is a very prevalent disease in our country, and one that I believe should receive all of the attention it deserves, my mother died from cervical cancer and I wanted to bring awareness to that particular type of cancer. We had customised shirts and we walked from the Super Value located in the Cable Beach Shopping Centre to Goodman's Bay and back," said Dimarcia.

She is happy to have received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback, both from the participants and also from persons who heard about the walk-a-thon after the event.

"The general consensus was that everyone was so proud of me, at such a young age, for not only organising the event, but for turning a sorrow filled moment in my life into a positive outlet and spreading my mother's story in such an amazing way. It also allowed me to be able to share how important annual checkups and pap smears are to women and to inform that that cervical cancer is a preventable and curable disease," said Dimarcia.