Brooklyn’s Dorothy Providence breast cancer-free for 34 years

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn resident Dorothy Providence thanks God for being breast cancer-free for 34 years.

“I thank God for His grace and mercy for where He has brought me from and the strength He gives me to continue doing the volunteer work at Fenimore Street United Methodist Church and elsewhere,” Providence, whose late husband, Randolph Providence, was a native of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, told Caribbean Life on Tuesday. 

“I have been cancer-free for 34 years,” added Providence, who was born and raised in Port Hudson, Louisiana, the eldest of four children. “However; since the time I was diagnosed to present, every three months, blood work is done.” 

Providence said, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989, she retired from the United States Postal Service in New York, where she worked in various positions in the Human Resources Department. 

She said, after having surgery in July 1989, she received no treatments or medications.

“However; the cancer returned in 1997,” she said. “I then had a second surgery, where I received six weeks of radiation and three sessions of chemotherapy. 

“I had surgery for the third time for breast cancer; and, though it was not cancerous, I needed no treatments but was given medications for five years,” added Providence, a long-standing member of Fenimore Street United Methodist Church, at the corner of Rogers Avenue, in Brooklyn, where she is the financial secretary, a communion steward, and sings with the church’s Gospel Chorus Choir. 

She also serves as treasurer for the Fenimore Senior Center, Inc.  In her community in Bedford Stuyvesant, she held the position of president of the Decatur Patchen Ralph Block Association for many years.  

Providence is also a member of Central Brooklyn Lions Club, Inc., where she held many positions, including president.

She has three children, three stepchildren, 11 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.