She is the Caribbean’s answer to Oprah Winfrey, a woman providing inspiration and empowerment while urging women to live their best lives. No one can describe Alicia John- Powell, aka Miss Basia, as preaching empty words.
Her mantra, “happiness heals”, was a realization she came to after her own diagnosis and battle with breast cancer. Little did Alicia know that that moment in the valley, where she fought off death with an aggressive and invisible foe, would be the defining moment of her life.
That moment came on August 1, 2009, when she was disagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, a very common type of breast cancer. Though she had been around cancer patients as a member of the Jamaica cancer society, she never dreamt she’d be one of them facing her own fears. What made her situation worse is that her diagnosis came one year after having a baby.
Most women would have buckled under the pressure. Though she admits to feeling numb for a few days after hearing the news, now her outlook on the whole ordeal is nothing short of remarkable.
“That day standing in Disney World when the doctor told me on the phone that I had breast cancer, at that moment I was a leading lady who could not control a thing. I knew that I was going to live . . . . knew that I would overcome it,” she said confidently of that time. “I felt this happened to teach me how to live and that’s what I’m teaching women now. I never saw it as a death sentence.”
That battle with cancer provided her with the vision for the Basia Survivor Network (BSN), an organization that provides support and treatment for women going through breast cancer. Along with the support of sisterhood, it also helps send women to Miami for PET scans, which are not available in the Caribbean.
“It was the most challenging time of my life and strangely enough it was the most enjoyable,” Alicia said of her battle with breast cancer. “My husband, cousin and I always found things to laugh at.”
Though she readily admits what she is doing is a call for God, like most women she struggles with that delicate balancing act of motherhood, wife, career woman. Alicia is the executive producer and host of The Basia Show, as well as the exectuive editor of Basia and Basia Sports magazines.
For more on Alicia John-Powell, read this week’s Easy Magazine.
