Rhea
Seegobin
You have to advocate
for yourself. Black
women
deserve the same health
care as
everyone else.
Giving grace
in the fight
against
cancer
In 2023, Rhea Seegobin was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer after suffering a fall at work. Just 32-years-old at the time, Rhea was shocked to learn that not only had she broken her hip and pelvis in the fall, but cancerous tumours had also metastasized throughout her entire body. And with that shock came the profound feeling of loneliness and isolation.
Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Rhea had come to Canada all on her own and the complexities of immigration meant only her mother was granted entry into the country while other family members, like Rhea’s older brother, were denied. Despite this, Rhea holds immense gratitude for the support she has received from friends, family, healthcare workers, and non-profit organizations like the Breast Cancer Support Fund.
“Even though my dad and my older brother couldn’t make it over [to Canada], I was still able to reunite with them on a getaway vacation financed by Melanie’s Way,” Rhea says, explaining that the foundation exists to provide financial support to breast cancer patients in need. “I don’t think it would have been possible otherwise.”
Over the course of her ongoing treatment, Rhea has had 4 central lines implanted in her body to make things easier for her to receive cancer treatment. However those central lines have led to significant complications including infections that resulted in hospitalizations.
“It’s not that bad though,” Rhea says, brushing the experiences off her shoulder. “I feel my experience with the healthcare system has been positive overall and I’m really a patient person. I don’t get frustrated. I try to be understanding. I give grace.”
And she extends that grace to everyone in her life, not just healthcare workers.
“I’ve had family and friends that used to check in on me and take me out all disappear. At first, I was upset by it but now I’ve come to an understanding that cancer is complicated because people have unique experiences with it, but I appreciate people who don’t just tell me I’m strong.
I prefer when people
acknowledge that cancer sucks
and that I don’t deserve to go
through this. That’s a stronger
validation of my true
experience and emotions.”
Most people don’t fully grasp what a stage 4 terminal diagnosis truly entails. It’s an endless cycle of waiting — waiting for scans, getting them done, waiting again for results — and then repeating the process for the rest of your life. There’s a constant fear that the current line of treatment will stop working, forcing you to start a new one. Each new treatment brings new prescriptions, new side effects, and new complications. Thoughts about death become something you learn to keep tucked away in the background, even as they quietly shape your days.
Unless you’ve lived it—or walked alongside someone who has—it’s impossible to understand the physical and emotional toll it takes. One of the medications Rhea was prescribed, prednisone, even contributed to her eventually needing a late hip replacement.
Today, Rhea is now considered medically stable. Her cancer has been significantly reduced from her initial diagnosis and is now confined to her breast, brain, and liver. As she continues the fight, Rhea offers a powerful piece of advice to Black women everywhere:
“You have to advocate for yourself. Black women deserve the exact same amount of care as everyone else.”
