Miss Basia

Alicia Powell (a.k.a. Miss Basia to her many fans) is one of the leading media personalities in the Caribbean, in her roles as the executive producer and host of The Basia Show, as well as being the executive editor of the Basia and Basia Sports magazines. She is also a breast cancer survivor, and has unwaveringly used her public profile to raise awareness throughout the region about the illness.

On April 17, Powell was among the participants at a seminar sponsored by Baptist Health International Center of Miami and the Caribbean Association of Oncology and Hematology on breast and prostate cancer, which was held at the Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre.

The afternoon patient forum featured a presentation from Powell on her personal experiences as a Baptist Health patient. She also proffered details to the audience about the Basia Survivor Network (BSN), a regional support group that she founded to educate women about cancer and how to live a healthy lifestyle after contracting the disease.

"I think that the event was well received," said Powell to The Observer. "It was a good initiative on the part of Baptist Health to improve awareness.

"I always instill in women that there is a cure, and that lifestyle is important and so is educating yourself, as both help you to deal with the diagnosis in a more proactive way. So, that is what I shared with the persons who attended."

Since dealing with the disease herself, Powell has become a tireless advocate for women diagnosed with, and surviving breast cancer in the Caribbean.

"My objective is to improve the message, that there is a cure, and to improve the type of information being disseminated," she explained.

Within BSN, both cancer patients and survivors receive much-needed emotional support and are helped to achieve the right attitude and mindset to deal with the challenges, and sometimes perceived stigmas, presented by the disease.

Powell's impetus to spread her message across the region came from her association with the organization where she received treatment.

"I knew nothing about Baptist Health, prior to my going there," she said. "I really fell in love with the staff. They helped to change my mindset, and that is what I wanted to do for others in the Caribbean."

The television show that she hosts is extremely popular in Trinidad, and according to Powell has a large following in the English-speaking Caribbean. Shows are due to begin soon in Jamaica, and have already been running in Barbados.

"I would love to bring the show to St. Kitts if a television station would carry it," she said.

Clips from The Basia Show can be seen by clicking into the appropriate link at www.basiamagazine.com.

It was on August 10, 2009, that Powell's life changed forever when she was diagnosed with invasive ductual carcinoma. A long-time volunteer with the Jamaica Cancer Society, she never contemplated being a patient herself.

A narrative on the Basia Magazine Web site provides insight into her feelings at that time.

"The best way to describe my state of mind was numb. One minute you are living a normal life and the next you are a cancer patient. That transition can be difficult for many. My predominant recollection of the people around my life who were diagnosed with cancer was prolonged illness or death."

Once treatment at Baptist Health had commenced, her life's path had been made clear.

" I had two choices -- I could fight the good fight, receive the best medical care and talk to my survivor friends weekly and visit their support groups and keep it all to myself, or I could form a dynamic survivor network that would be equal to theirs and pamper women in my country and in other parts of the Caribbean, while making a difference in the way they handle a cancer diagnosis and the way they fought it," she related on her site.

BSN participants meet weekly to explore issues affecting their lives. The sessions include complimentary activities such as yoga, reflexology, dance, and lectures from world-class doctors and surgeons from sponsor Baptist Health. The hospital also agreed to fund surgeries for a specific number of women who were not able to afford them, through their association with the Network.

Dr. Deirdre Marshall, a board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon at South Miami Hospital, part of the Baptist Health South Florida Network, performed Powell's reconstructive surgery.

"She is a celebrity and a public figure, and used that in a positive way to bring attention to the whole issue," said Marshell of Powell.. "She had a very positive attitude about it, even when she was receiving treatment."

Generally, Marshall sees women whose cases are not advanced, and where a good prognosis and outcome from treatment is expected. Given the high detection rates in the United States, it is now rare for her to see advanced cases of breast cancer.

"Most women can get some kind of medical insurance that would cover their getting a mammogram, and getting to a doctor to get examined," said Marshall. "Also, most people know now that if you do have breast cancer, and it is detected, the disease can be cured, so that they're not so afraid to keep on top of it."

According to Marshall, since she began practicing the reconstruction aspect of breast cancer surgery has changed significantly for the better.

"When I first started, we used to just make a mound on the chest, and they never really looked very good," she said. "Now we try to get results so that the reconstructed breast looks even better than what you started with. We have new types of implants and new ways of moving the tissue around, in addition to other materials that we use to construct a realistic looking breast. We look at it not only as reconstruction, but also as cosmetic surgery."

Marshall informed that the trend right now is for women, even if they only have cancer in one breast, to opt for removal of both breasts because once cancer is found in one breast the chances getting it in the other increase.

"In general, the chances of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 8, and if you already have cancer in one breast, it is even higher than that," she said.

"So, most women just remove the second one as a preventative measure. When we reconstruct, they come out looking better because they match. It is better to have the mastectomy on both sides, but some women choose to keep the healthy breast and have surgery done on that, although the result doesn't produce as good a match."

Many younger women feel more peace of mind if they just remove all of their breast tissue to minimize the chances of acquiring cancer again, according to Marshall.

"I have never seen a patient regret having surgery done on the second breast," she said.

A fairly recent innovation in breast cancer surgery involves immediate reconstruction, which begins virtually at the same time as the mastectomy and is advantageous to affected women because they never have to go around without anything in the breast area.

"The additional surgery only adds a few hours to the overall operation time and cuts out the need for one whole operation. For mental and self-esteem reasons, it is better to have both done at the same time," explained Marshall.

Genetic testing is the latest technology to come along in the field. Medical researchers can now determine if women are carrying a gene that indicates it will be likely, given a possible mutation in their DNA, that they will get breast cancer through heredity factors.

It is only necessary for a woman to spit in a cup, rather than take a blood test, to find out if they are at risk for ovarian or Fallopian tube cancer.

"Some women follow up on a positive test by having reconstruction surgery without even having the disease, as a preventative measure" said Marshall.

"The next step in genetic testing involves looking at the daughters of women who do carry the gene, and figuring out when the best time is to get the tests done for them."

Dr. Marshall is a graduate of Yale University, Columbia University Academic Institute in Paris, France, as well as the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Katherine M. McCormick Foundation Award for Women in Medicine and the Stanford University School of Medicine Research Honors Award.