Prominent anti-domestic violence activist succumbs to cancer

U.S.-based Guyanese domestic violence activist, Sukree Budhram, reportedly put up a good fight, but didn’t have the strength to go on any longer.
She died at age 50 around 03:00hrs on Saturday at the Cornerstone Hospice in Orlando, Florida.
The Guyana Chronicle understands that the Berbice-born Budhram, who resided in Clermont, Florida, had for several months been fighting cancer and spoke of her dreaded journey on her blogsite at https://sukreespeaks.com/.
She said she had begged God to give her time to see her two children, Randy and Samantha, finish college, one in December this year, and the other in 2018. But apparently, he couldn’t bear to see her suffer anymore.
The founder of the Caribbean-American Domestic Violence Awareness (CADVA) organisation, Budhram was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a bone cancer which mostly affects children, but is rare in adults.
Her diagnosis came late, as the cancer, which had significantly grown in size, had already spread to the soft tissue in her lungs.
In her last post on her blog on April 20, Budhram said:
“The cancer that plagues me is extremely fast-growing. When it came back, it came back very quickly and spread rapidly on my right side. We saw this happen twice: in June 2016 and January 2017.”
After successful treatment in the latter months of 2016, she, for some unexplained reason, experienced a recurrence of the disease between January and April of this year, which saw her being in and out of hospital regularly.
As she explained in her post: “With good reason, as you will see with my recent experience, struggles and triumphs… “September2016 PET Scan results showed no trace of cancer, and as a result, we decided to stretch out the treatments from every three weeks to every six weeks, starting in November.
“That only lasted one six-week cycle before the cancer returned with a vengeance in January 2017.
“It was pushing very hard on my right lungs, causing me to have breathing issues. I had to be put on the breathing tube; I had to be on wheelchair mode of transportation for about three days.
“Walking became impossible; I was not getting enough oxygen to aid in walking. This resulted in yet another blood transfusion late January.
“Over a weekend, it was almost on the entire right half of my body according to the CT scan. I was hospitalised from January 23 – 29. During that time, we had to change the chemotherapy medication along with obtaining another blood transfusion. I was administered the new drugs on day two after admission, and it worked immediately to start killing the cells.”
In February, radiation was done and it was a time when even eating had become difficult and fearful.
“The process itself is simple and fast. However, because it was in my chest area, I ended up having severe constriction to eating,” she said.
“I was not able to swallow for about four weeks. That was most of February and part of March. Eating became a fear; It felt like a knife cutting me… Eventually, after three different medications and time, this went away and I was able to eat normal again.
“I lost 15 pounds in the process, but quickly put back half of that since then.”
But Budhram’s battle worsened as her body became weaker, with tentacles of the disease spreading to take whatever life was left in her.
On April 7, she had another PET scan to detect the presence of cancer again.
Taking again to her blog, she wrote: “The results showed no cancer present. I want to share that this cancer type responds to medication very well, but without chemo, it comes back very aggressive, and can spread in days, causing death without treatment very quickly; in a matter of about seven days I was told. So I understand I will remain on chemotherapy indefinitely at this junction.
“It may change later on, but for now, it remains. In addition, I had an MRI done on the brain on the April 5 and it showed the presence of either sinus or metastatic cancer.
“We will do a CT scan or a biopsy to try to confirm what that could be. Finally, my lower lumbar will undergo an MRI to determine why I have excruciating pain there. The process continues, and I have to just take care of my body, food and spirit.”
That said day, on April 7, she would permanently retire from work after over 33 years, and was given additional doctor’s appointments as her condition deteriorated, creating cause for additional doctor’s appointments.
As she recorded, “So far, I have my days filled with appointments and doctor’s visits. Luckily, my hair is growing back slowly, and I hope it grows in for the summer. This medication does not seem to knock my hair. “Thank you God for every little thing in my life, and my family and friends who are there for me. Bless all of us, and keep us safe in your bosom of warmth and safety.”
She was hospitalised for two days, on April 16 and 17, after experiencing severe nausea.
The Guyana Chronicle extends sincere condolences to the family and all affected by her death.