As she seeks to raise funds to offset the cost of a needed surgery, a young woman is clinging to hopes that she will one day realise her childhood dream of becoming an environmentalist and also be able to once again play the sports she was so active in before cancer began ravaging her body.
Forced to leave her job at the Guyana Revenue Authority, take leave of absence from the University of Guyana where she was pursuing an Environmental Studies degree, and give up all active participation in the sports she was involved in, Candacey Glen, 24, of the West Bank of Demerara, says the past year saw her life coming to crashing halt.
“To say I had no signs is complex because I have troubled with irregular periods since puberty and always felt that the heavy bleeding and pains associated with it was due to that. But last year I was bleeding heavily and fainted one day while at work. I was rushed to the hospital and tests from that first showed the tumor,” she told Sunday Stabroek in an interview last Friday.
“My blood count was so low that kept me in hospital while samples from the tumor was sent for testing. It was those results which showed that it was cancer and from there my life took a turn for the worse,” she added.
Glen recently made a social media to seek financial assistance from the public.
“I was once a jovial and energetic individual who loved partaking in sports such as hockey, for which I was a part of the Guyana Female team, football, cricket, golf etc. I was determined to live life to its fullest with the sky being the limit. I was doing well for myself; I secured a job at GRA and was studying. Life was once bright and promising. However, all of this came crashing down when I started feeling a pain in my stomach which led me to the doctor’s office. It started off as just being a cyst to now being diagnosed as Germ Cell Tumor and Ovarian Cancer,” she wrote.
“I started chemo treatment which gave me hope that I’d get better soon but instead of bettering the situation it made it 10 times worse. Since then, I have lost my hair, my skin tone, my energy, my vigor, my once so athletic body and my chance to live my dream. I am now forced to carry around the belly of a nine months pregnant woman except it doesn’t contain my bundle of joy, but rather my worst nightmare. My only hope is to travel to Cuba to perform the necessary procedure and treatment, the cost however to travel to Cuba and also for my medical fees are beyond me, this is why I write to you, asking for you kind assistance in aiding me to regain my once bright future,” she added.
Glen was not the only one that has been affected by her illness as her mother had to quit her job to give her daughter the around-the-clock care she has needs on some days.
“My mom quit her job in October of last to take care of me full-time. I have three siblings and I know some days this takes a toll on her but she never complains and has been my rock throughout this process,” Glen related.
“I guess she knows that it’s from her I draw my strength. But I also want her to know that I see the sacrifice she makes,” she added.
Glen’s father died in a car accident back in 2019 and that is still hard to come to grips with for her.
She said that hard to accept, also, is that she cannot be a part of the national women’s hockey team any longer or participate in any physical sporting activities. “I just have to watch,” she lamented.
But the former national player’s hopes are not lost as Cuban medical personnel have liaised with their Guyanese counterparts to offer the necessary surgery and follow up treatments.
To access the services, she has to come up with an initial US$50,000. She said that she was told that she would have to spend about five months in Cuba, also, but she is hoping her recovery time would he shorter.
‘An example’
A woman of faith, Glen believes that she will beat the cancer and will live to realise all her dreams.
“God has placed amazing people in my life. The people at work have been so very supportive that I cannot say thanks to them enough. The GPHC staff, those at the Cancer Institute, my family, my friends and even total strangers have shown an outpouring of love for me,” she highlighted.
And as she tries to build her already weakened petite body in preparation for if she gets the assistance needed, she is also appealing to persons, especially the youth, to not ignore their own bodies.
“A lot of times we just take things for granted. For me, I never imagined this. I hope that I am an example for young men and young women who brush off symptoms because they feel they are young and nothing can affect them,” she said.
Persons wishing to contact Candacey Glen can do so on telephone numbers 592-656-1515 and 592-683-5270.
For those wanting to donate to her through MMG, they can do so using GTT mobile number 617-7945.
Donations can also be deposited or transferred to her Republic Bank account (962352813780) in the name Candacey Leanne Glen.
