NYPD detective specialist tells harrowing story of battle with colon cancer

As March was commemorated as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, a Vincentian-born New York Police Department (NYPD) detective specialist has been telling the harrowing story of her battle with surviving colon cancer.

Brooklyn resident Roxanne Joseph, 43, who hails from the southern St. Vincent Grenadine island of Union, recently appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) in discussing her journey.

She was also featured last July by Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center in its summer magazine.

Last Monday, Joseph was the keynote speaker at a Colon Cancer Awareness Forum by the NYPD’s Patrol Borough Brooklyn South Community Affairs Section, at Top Civic Center on Utica Avenue, between Beverly and Clarendon Roads, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Joseph — who, in July, will serve 19 years as a cop — did not hesitate to tell Caribbean Life her story two days later.

“March 2022:  I went to the bathroom and noticed there was a little blood in my stool,” she said. “I decided to call up my gastro doctor (gastroenterologist), who informed me to come in.

“I went in to do a colonoscopy,” she added. “It was during that time [that] they found a tumor,” she added. “The tumor was biopsied; the biopsy came back that it was colon cancer.”

Joseph said the NYPD’s Medical Division then referred her to MSK, where she started treatment.

She said her treatment plan comprised chemotherapy and surgery.

“I had the best team at MSK – Dr. Rona Yeager, who was my oncologist, and Dr. Philip Paty,” she said, adding, though, that chemotherapy was “extremely rough” on her.

“But, by the grace of God, I pushed through and am here today to tell my story,” continued Joseph, stating that April will represent a year since she’s been cancer-free.

Since her life has returned to “a sense of normalcy,” Joseph said she has been on an awareness campaign, especially in the African-American community, which includes the Caribbean community, “trying to educate our people on the importance of getting screened.”

“Screening saved my life,” she said. “I was recent on GMA talking about the importance (of screening), and I’ve been working with MSK in raising awareness.”

On Monday, Joseph told the forum: “For 1 ½ years, while I was gone (from her NYPD job), I was on the battlefield.

“I was fighting a disease that was so rough; I was fighting a silent disease,” she said. “2022 started good for me. I was good, working out (at the gym).”

But, one morning, she said she saw blood in my stool, and that completely changed her life.

She recalled that, a year before, one of her uncles was diagnosed with colon cancer.

“I came to work, I didn’t tell a soul,” said Joseph about her diagnosis. “I went to the gym. The NYPD was so good to me.

“This disease is silent and deadly,” she added. “I want everyone to get screened.

“I thank God for his saving grace,” Joseph continued. “I can testify that there’s a God. When I was diagnosed, I prayed so much.”

According to MSK, Black patients are 40 percent more likely to die from colorectal cancer than other ethnic groups.

Recent work at MSK has shown that, even among patients with colorectal cancer who were treated at the same institution, those of African ancestry don’t live as long after diagnosis as those of European or East or South Asian ancestry.

“MSK researchers are discovering that one reason for this disparity in outcomes could be due to the differences in the molecular profiles of tumors between patients of different ancestries,” said MSK in its Summer 2023 magazine. “Fewer patients with African ancestry have tumors that are likely to respond to newer treatments (like immunotherapy and targeted therapy).”

More about Joseph

Joseph was born on June 25, 1980 on Union Island in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

At 14, she migrated to Brooklyn, to join her mother, Marva, who had begun paving the way for a better life for her family.

Joseph graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn and went on to New York City Technical College, where she majored in the human services.

She later transferred to John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree, with honors in criminal justice.

Subsequent to her appointment to the NYPD, Joseph often spoke proudly of her aunt, Sergeant Ilene Maloney, who dedicated over 30 years of service to the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force as supervisor of the Central Investigation Division.

Joseph said her aunt’s “passion and dedication” in helping others inspired her to pursue a career in law enforcement.

After she was sworn in the NYPD, on July 11, 2005, and after graduating from the Police Academy, she was assigned to Brooklyn’s 67th Precinct’s Impact Unit, the daily patrol squad.

Joseph was also a member of the precinct’s Conditions Team and the Community Policing Unit.

She said her expression of love for her Caribbean culture and passion to keep the Caribbean community safe and empowered earned her the position of Community Affairs Officer.

During her tenure in the 67th Precinct, Joseph said she “consistently advocated for the educating of new police officers. assigned to the precinct, on the West Indian culture.”

She said that understanding Caribbean culture and traditions is “essential to a successful relationship between police and Community.”

Joseph said she’s also an advocate for guiding young women to be successful and productive, and to become independent women in society.

She said such attributes have earned her the 2015 Police Officer of the Year Award; the Woman of Distinction Award; Caribbean Life Impact Award; Congressional recognition from Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke; New York State and City citations; Distinguished Service Awards; the 2018 and 2019 West Indian Cultural Ambassador by J’ouvert City International; and Civil Service Awards, among other community citations, awards and certificates.

After eight years in the position of Community Affairs Officer, and gaining the trust, respect and love of the entire community, Joseph said she was promoted to the rank of Detective Specialist.

She said her continued work and dedication to the Caribbean community quickly became noticed by NYPD’s hierarchy. This merited her a position in the Police Commissioner’s Office as the West Indian liaison to the Police Commissioner.

In her current position, Joseph serves as the West Indian liaison to Patrol Borough Brooklyn South.

Joseph has been happily married for 22 years to her first love, Rory Joseph. From that union, she said they were blessed with two “wonderful children,” Anthony and Tori Joseph.