Two years after she graduated as a general practitioner, Dr Latoya Gooding requested to join the Oncology Department of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) and the suffering of cancer victims propelled her to do more than treat their symptoms and help to make their stay at the institution bearable.
She joined with like-minded persons to start the Giving Hope Foundation which today, she boasts, has not only helped to raise awareness so that women and men do not wait until they are sick to be tested for various cancers, but has also helped children who lost their parents to cancer and suicide.
Dr Gooding’s move to the Oncology Department might be due to the fact that her grandfather passed away in 2009 from prostate cancer. He died without receiving the requisite treatment and this would have also been foremost on her mind when she mobilised to form the foundation.
She was away studying to become a medical doctor when her grandfather died. According to her, he was attending clinic for two years but was never treated for the diagnosis, which he had kept a secret from his family. It was her father who observed that he was getting progressively weaker and decided to accompany him to the hospital. Before that, he told his family he was making regular visits to the hospital for check-ups and he never wanted anyone to accompany him. But her father insisted that day and it was then he was made aware of the severity of his father’s illness. In fact, according to Dr Gooding, he was told his father did not have much longer to live.
He died one week later, but his death was kept a secret from her; it was only after she returned home from studying the next year that she learnt of tragic news. Her family’s rationale for this was they did not want to burden her as she was in her final stages of completing her medical studies.
“That was disturbing. I was highly annoyed, because I think they stole my opportunity to say goodbye to my grandfather. I broke down when I got the news and I never got closure until last year,” she told Stabroek Weekend.
She recalled that every funeral she attended after 2010 found her grieving for James Gooding (her deceased grandfather), but last year she decided to visit his gravesite where she said goodbye. While she had “three grandfathers,” the young doctor said, James Gooding was the “only one I really loved.”
The foundation
While at the Oncology Department, Dr Gooding said, she saw persons being diagnosed with stages three and four cancer when it was too late.
“At that late stage we are unable to help them. It was sad to see young lives being lost to cancer that could have been saved if they had been diagnosed earlier,” she said.
And so, the foundation was started in December 2016, when it was registered. She said it is dedicated to reducing the incidents of late stage diagnosis of cancer in Guyana and addressing mental health issues of persons diagnosed with cancer, both adult and children. Since its formation, she said, the not-for-profit foundation has been conducting monthly cancer screening outreaches that target the three most prevalent cancers in Guyana, breast, cervical and prostate.
But because of a lack of resources they visit primarily area accessible by land. Dr Gooding believes that the foundation, along with other awareness campaigns by other organisations, has contributed to the reduction of late diagnosis of cancers in Guyana.
Only recently, the Cancer Institute of Guyana’s Director of Outreach Dr Syed Ghazi indicated that there has been a significant decrease in the incidence of persons being diagnosed with breast cancer at a late stage. He said this can be attributed to increased awareness of the cancer. In addition to observing the increase of early-stage breast cancer diagnosis, since 2006 he had also observed that a lot of younger women are getting screened for the various types of cancers. This observation was supported by Oncologist Dr Sayan Chakraborty, Medical Director of the Institute. He said that “more and more” young people are visiting the institute for cancer screening even though some were still going to the institute when their cancer was in its fourth stage. He had announced that an average of the total number of patients being treated annually for cancer is 250 and above. It was also noted that 267 persons were diagnosed with cancer in 2015, 266 in 2016 and 300 in 2017.
Apart from the awareness and screening outreaches, Dr Gooding said, the foundation also has an arm that deals with childhood cancer and has since completed its third childhood cancer walk. She said they render assistance to children who need further treatment and financial assistance as well. She gave the example of a child whose hearing was damaged after chemotherapy; the foundation sponsored sign language classes for him and his family so they can better communicate.
The Giving Hope Foundation also assists children who have lost a loved one to cancer or suicide by hosting bereavement camps. The camps help the children to find coping mechanisms. The foundation has held three such camps, with 34, 37 and 40 children attending respectively over three years.
“Most of these children, they need someone to guide them, they need that counselling, some of them lash out in school, and you find that their behaviours changed…,” Dr Gooding said adding that at the camps psychologists like Wil Campbell assist the children.
She hopes to find another meeting time for the children apart from the camps, noting that some children have attended more than one camp.
While the camps fall under her foundation, Dr Gooding indicated that the idea was not hers but that of teacher and activist Marva Langevine, who was initially part of the group behind the foundation’s start up. Langevine, who now heads her own group, Guyana Golden Lives Organisation, and is focused on working with individual children and their families rather than mass camps, had said she saw the need for this when her best friend passed away from cancer leaving two young boys behind.
Meanwhile, Dr Gooding said her foundation also has a survival ship group for adult cancer survivors so that they can interact and support each other. While they have meetings, the group mainly communicates via WhatsApp. The group is supported by Dr Gooding, US-based nutritionist Dr Isaac Fordyce and Campbell.
“It [the group] is working out great, when new persons are added to the group the survivors are very helpful and they are at times paired with each other,” she said, revealing that there are about 35 cancer survivors in the group.
Up to 2018, Dr Gooding said, they had seen some 3,000 clients on outreaches and as it relates to cancer patients she said, “It is a lot, some we would have lost, some are still alive.”
Giving Hope Foundation is affiliated with the US-based foundation HEROC (Health Education and Relief Organisation for Cancer) headed by Lorna Welshman-Neblette
Pinktober
During October, which is observed worldwide as the month dedicated to raising awareness of breast cancer, Dr Gooding said, HEROC visits for events. The month has been dubbed Pinktober because pink is the colour for breast cancer awareness. The foundation usually has a candlelight vigil in remembrance of those lost to cancer and there is the ‘Look Good Feel Better’ initiative, which sees survivors being pampered and donations of breast prostheses are made. Also donated are wigs and personal hampers. This year the initiative was sponsored by Muneshwers Ltd and some 31 women benefited with the longest known adult cancer survivor in Guyana, Alexis Ngonbo (21 years), and the longest known child survivor Makela Belgrave, receiving special recognition. This year, the initiative saw the support of volunteers from Muneshwers, the founder’s sister Zianda Gooding who owns Uscia Creations and A&V Beauty Salon. Through Muneshwers sponsorship, survivors received knitted bras and hampers. HEROC also donated hampers. First Lady Sandra Granger was also a part of the event.
Vinita Muneshwer also assists patients in different ways and according to Dr Gooding she can always be called upon to do so. The screening initiative for the month was held on October 19th at Muneshwers, which saw over 200 visitors.
Recently, Giving Hope Foundation received a grant from the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) to conduct cervical cancer screening in the hinterland. Dr Gooding said they visited Mabaruma on October 12th and 13th and the next two communities to be visited will be Mahdia and Lethem. Workshops are part of this initiative to help patients to cope with their diagnosis and also training in palliative care.
Wife and mother
Dr Gooding is a wife and mother to two young children ages two years old and five months old. Apart from her work at the GPH she also has a private practice. “I don’t know how I do it. I have the support of my husband. Most times we are out all weekend working,” Dr Gooding said adding that she recently completed a Masters in Oncology.
“I have always had a passion to help persons,” she said when asked about her path to becoming a doctor.
Dr Gooding comes from a family of six siblings and both her parents are alive and well. While she is the only doctor among her siblings, she has relatives who are doctors and dentists.
Giving Hope Foundation is located 264 Thomas Street and contact can be made by emailing ghfoundation2016@yahoo.com or calling 227-6588.
