Written by Hon. E. P. Chet Greene, the account opens with a vivid, deeply personal memory from June 2012: the tense, hushed gathering of his entire family in their Liberta home on the eve of his 50-year-old sister’s scheduled breast cancer surgery. While loved ones joined hands in collective prayer, Greene found himself sobbing uncontrollably, overwhelmed by a toxic mix of unawareness around oncology outcomes, fierce sibling affection, and a suffocating, vise-like dread that he would lose his sister before the procedure even began. At that point, he had no frame of reference for survival statistics, no understanding of cancer staging or surgical margin metrics, only the devastating, unshakable certainty that he was about to say goodbye to a core member of his family.
More than 10 years later, that worst-case scenario never came to pass. Greene’s sister Gaye is not only alive, but thriving: she lives a full, unconstrained daily life, contributes actively to her extended family, and devotes significant time and energy to service work at her local church and across the wider community. Every time Greene hears her laugh, he is reminded how unfounded his crippling 2012 fears were, and how deeply grateful he is that local medical science and the dedicated healthcare workers who deliver care in Antigua and Barbuda defied his darkest expectations.
Greene is quick to note that his family’s experience is far from anomalous – a reality that forms the core of his public advocacy. Breast cancer ranks as the most devastating, high-burden cancer affecting women across Antigua and Barbuda. A retrospective population study analyzing all confirmed cancer diagnoses recorded between 2017 and 2021 revealed that female breast cancer made up 42% of the four most prevalent cancer types tracked in the cohort – a share larger than the combined total of cervical, colorectal, and prostate cancer cases over the same five-year window. The median age of breast cancer diagnosis in the country is 59, and nearly 50% of all cases are only detected at an advanced, late-stage progression. That last data point haunts Greene: it means a staggering number of local women – mothers, sisters, aunts, friends – only learn they have the disease when treatment is far more difficult, and five-year survival rates plummet from 68.3% for early detection to a mere 31.0% for late-stage diagnoses. For Greene, these are not disconnected statistical figures: they represent the line between a family prayer circle that ends in joyful relief, and one that ends in irreversible grief.
Greene offered full-throated praise for the country’s oncology researchers and frontline healthcare teams – oncologists, registered nurses, lab technicians, and all support staff who consistently deliver compassionate, life-saving care to all residents and citizens living with any form of cancer. He also commended the Ministry of Health for its annual October public awareness campaigns, which encourage residents to don pink apparel to show solidarity and prioritize regular breast health checks, and clearly outline warning signs that require immediate medical attention: unusual lumps or thickening in breast tissue, unexpected shifts in breast size or shape, and abnormal nipple discharge. He further recognized the critical work of local community organizations that step in to fill gaps in the formal healthcare system, delivering peer support and practical resources when public services are stretched thin.
This week, as the country amplifies public recognition of breast cancer advocacy, patient support, and public education initiatives, Greene issued a direct, urgent plea to every community member to prioritize their own health by committing to proactive care: attend all scheduled public screening events, ask healthcare providers detailed questions about personal risk factors, and offer tangible support to local breast cancer survivors. Most importantly, he urged residents to take the concrete step far too many delay until symptoms force them to act: book a preventative medical appointment. Schedule a routine mammogram. Book a non-invasive clinical breast exam. Do not wait for a noticeable lump. Do not wait for painful, disruptive symptoms to appear. Do not wait for a last-minute family prayer circle on the eve of a high-stakes surgery that could have been avoided entirely with earlier, preventative intervention.
As the community wraps up St. Paul’s 2026 Health Month, held under the public health theme “Know Your Numbers. Own Your Health,” Greene framed this simple, proactive appointment as the most meaningful gift people can give to themselves and everyone who loves them. It is not a symbolic pink ribbon, not a social media post, but a concrete date marked on a calendar, a personal promise that no loved one will ever have to experience the overwhelming, fear-fueled sobs he cried back in 2012, rooted in preventable medical ignorance rather than the knowledge, timely action, and extra time that early screening delivers. Greene notes he thanks God every day that his sister Gaye was granted that extra, healthy time – and he is imploring every resident to go claim that same time for themselves.