The day she learned she had breast cancer will always go down as the worst day of Michelle Duverneau Carries. To use words like “shock” and “disbelief”, would be understating her reaction. Questions flew in her mind. How was she going to tell her son? Her brothers and sisters? And most alarmingly of all, how was she going to take care of herself financially?
Duverneau Carries was born in Haiti and immigrated to New York during her early teens. She moved to Florida in the late 1970s and worked in the advertising departments of several retail stores including JCPenney, before working for a series of major ad agencies.
In the late 1990s, she started investigating possibilities in entertainment production and started her video production company, Lacaye Production Incorporated, which eventually produced her television show, “Weekend à L’Haitienne”, an English-language entertainment show, that featured Haitian music, artists, and culture. The show, she says, was timely, and was used to counteract negative and mediocre images of Haitians in the media. It had the distinction of being the only Haitian TV show that figured in the Nielsen Rating system while airing on PBS affiliate WLRN. The entertainment mogul also had a hand in creating and producing commercials, music videos, and promotional segments.
She was high on her success. And then the news came. The awful, hard-to-take news that she had breast cancer.
Since her diagnosis, Duverneau Carries has not only made it her duty to take care of herself but to reach out in the Haitian community to other women with breast cancer diagnosis, as well as those who may be at risk for the disease. The cancer surgery left the TV host with Lymph Edema in the right arm, which reduced her ability to do one of my favorite things: camera work. Thankfully, she was still able to edit, produce and direct. The first option was to sit there and look woeful, but she chose another option. Upon her recovery, she went back to school to study multimedia design. Duverneau Carries hopes to bring back her show. Meanwhile, reruns still air on Miami’s Island TV. A true crusader, she’s chosen to share her story in the book Twenty-One Months: My Journey Fighting Breast Cancer.
Q & A
Was it especially trying for you to sit down and write about dealing with a disease that has changed your life? Writing personal things aren’t easy, let alone about one’s illness. How did you find the courage to come forward?
It wasn’t too difficult to sit down and write about my journey fighting breast cancer. From when I started going to the hospital for my treatments, I decided then and there to start creating a journal about what I was going through. Being a well-known TV show host in my community, it was important for me to share my story to help other families who are going or will be going through this same journey to know that they are not alone and that they will get through it. I also wanted others in our community with misconceptions of the disease to understand what having breast cancer and going through the treatments was about. The difficult part was to share some of my personal life with all my readers, but it was important to share it because my perseverance, strong will, and my personality played an important part in fighting the disease.
What response have you gotten about your book?
I’ve gotten very good and positive responses form the book. Thanks to the Haitian media: radio, TV, as well as the web, such as your site, the book is getting a lot of exposure.
Do you have any plans to make your book available in French or Creole?
I do plan on doing a French version to make it available to the French speaking readers in the near future as well as an audio version. It will take time.
“To some Haitians sickness is never natural.” I’ve heard that thrown about a lot. Sometimes when some in the Haitian community are ill, whether with heart disease or diabetes or cancer, they tend to think that someone is out to get them. I’ve heard all types of stories from different people, whose family members are sick, or who are sick. What do you think can be done to change that mentality, especially in the older folks?
Too often in our culture, having diseases like cancer, heart disease, AIDS, are diagnosed too late because our fellows Haitians are too afraid to visit a doctor and discus their discomforts because they are ashamed of being shunned by the community or even by their own family members. Some just don’t want to find out the truth about these diseases…Sometimes we tend to rely on religion and remèd fèy to heal the disease – not that there is anything wrong with them, but there is a question of dosage and if it will clash with the medication given by the doctors. The other big issue is the beliefs that maybe someone had made a Vodun curse; therefore, looking for a Vodun priest to counter attack. I can tell you about stories I heard at the hospital from some of the Haitian women while waiting to get my treatments. It was very sad to hear some of these beliefs even though they were there getting the treatments, they still drinking some other potions to ward the evils that was done tot hem. I once attempted to explain that Vodun curse would not have given them breast cancer, but was snapped at and was told that I didn’t know what I was talking about because I was too Americanized. All these issues definitely were my main reason for sitting down and writing the book. Changing that mentality will be a monumental task. We are talking about centuries of misconceptions, intentionally misinforming, and instilling the fear of religion, whether Catholicism, and or Vodun upon us, in order to keep a small group in power.
What more do you think can be done to bring awareness about breast cancer in the Haitian community?
There are many Haitian breast cancer survivors who are doing a great job at spreading the word in the community from West Palm Beach, to Miami through their radio programs. I had been invited to many of them to talk about prevention. But, we don’t have enough funds to create good video programs in Kreyòl. I truly believe if we can bring the visual to them, it would be a much better venue. As they say: “Seeing is believing”. I would gladly step forward to head that project. The other issue is that—I am sad to say—we Haitians don’t like working together for a common cause. Instead of pulling of the resources in one place and get the funding to create a statewide, nationwide, or even a worldwide Haitian non-for-profit organization like Suzan G Komen, that would help educate, and assist Haitians all over the world, we go behind each other’s back to discredit each other, therefore, keeping the funding to a minimum. Don’t even get me going with that.
Michelle Duverneau Carries promoting her book on NBC.
Sometimes when someone is diagnosed, we can be at a loss in terms of what to say. How can we best help someone who has breast cancer?
It is always difficult to find the right word. The best thing is to be sincere and say you’re sorry about the news. If you want to give some help by bringing food, or help with some house chores, ask the person first if they want the help and when you can come by. Sometimes you just want to be alone dealing with the pain, some other times you want some company. Always ask first. Let the person know that you will be there for him or her. The worst thing to do is distant yourself form the person because you’re don’t now what to say or do. Another thing is not to lecture the person. The other bad thing is to suggest praying God for forgiveness; that, to me, is the most insensitive thing a person can say to someone fearing the worst.
You are a fighter. What lifestyle measures did you take to fight the disease?
Beside a family history, science has not pinpointed what causes breast cancer, but there are certain types of food that have been linked to preventing it. So, I decided to change my diet, stay away from anything with saturated fat and other unnecessary food additives, most canned food; instead, eat fresh vegetables—lots of greens—lean meats, etc. As much as I love griyo, I only eat it three to four times a year, instead of every weekend, and I exercise. I continue my breast self-exam every monthly, and do my yearly mammograms. Prevention is the key.
What have you learned about prevention?
As I mentioned earlier, I never thought I would have breast cancer. I ate the right food, exercised every day. I was in great shape, had a mammogram two years earlier, but I disregarded the small lump that was growing under my arm. Even though it was hurting and gave me great discomfort when lying down, I totally dismissed it as just a swollen gland from lifting too much weight. I didn’t know you could have breast cancer under your arm. Had I gone to a doctor much earlier, maybe I would have to do one year of grueling chemo treatments. The moral of the story is: it is your body, if something doesn’t look or feel right, go see your doctor right away. Better be safe than sorry!
Duverneau Carries on her crusade against breast cancer in the Haitian community. Here she is being interviewed for a Creole language radio show.
What are you most grateful for?
I am most grateful for my family who was there every step of the way with me during my 21 months of fighting breast cancer. I am also grateful to some of the member of the media who have kept in touch to follow up with my progress. I am also grateful for being alive and able to spread the word about breast cancer prevention.
You can check out Michelle Duverneau Carries’ book HERE.
