‘The fright from the cancer diagnosis is still quite unbearable’: Trinidadian attorney Gemma Thomas-Ahyase

Trinidadian attorney Gemma Thomas-Ahayse says she has been forced into semi-retirement after her most recent breast cancer diagnosis, stating that “the fright from the cancer diagnosis is still quite unbearable.”

“My last PET scan showed a significant reduction of cancer in my breast, lymph nodes, and lumbar vertebra to which it had spread,” Thomas-Ahyase, a Canarsie, Brooklyn resident, who practiced law for several years, told Caribbean Life on Sunday.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, positron emission tomography (PET) scans detect early signs of cancer, heart disease, and brain conditions.

The clinic says PET involves an injection of a safe radioactive tracer that helps detect diseased cells.

“This very encouraging news has boosted my confidence, but the fright from the cancer diagnosis is still quite unbearable,” said Thomas-Ahyase, disclosing that her recent cancer diagnosis came in the middle of her doctoral studies in business administration. 

She said she had written a book, Colonialism’s Children, which addressed the rigors of post-colonial countries’ struggles with development. She wanted to do further business studies to update the book and examine development from a business perspective. 

Thomas-Ahyase said she plans to resume that endeavor at the end of October.

“This endeavor means a lot to me since I still wish to influence governments in previously colonized countries,” said Thomas-Ahyase, who first battled breast cancer 24 years ago and “got cured on holistic medicine only after some surgery. 

“I thought that I was done with cancer when, by my estimation, after I took too many COVID vaccines, including the bivariant one in December 2022, I felt a lump in my other breast six months later, and a curious swelling appeared on my thumb of all places,” she added.

Since she knew that she had always been diagnosed with fibrocystic breast disease, Thomas-Ahyase said she “did not take it seriously. 

“By the time I went to my gynecologist and did mammograms and sonograms at Lenox Hill Radiology, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in January of this year,” she said.

Thomas-Ahyase said she is being treated and followed by New York Cancer and Blood Specialist Dr. Ramsay Asmar, who is affiliated with Memorial Sloan Kettering on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.  

Thomas-Ahyase, a member of the Brooklyn Canarsie Lions Club, said she also undergoes Ozone treatments at Dr. Bill Akpinar’s Center for Healing in Douglaston, NY, to whom her club’s president, Dominican-born Jean Joseph, referred her. 

“I drink a lot of soursop leaves tea and drink a Japanese product called Utsukushhii, referred to me by Dr. Rhema Adejola,” she said. “All these things are supposed to boost your immune system to fight cancer.”  

She said her family and friends have been “indefatigable fighters” on her behalf. 

“My son, Adelaja – who moved out of his bedroom and slept on the floor next to my bed for months, and who has been driving me around and responding to my every need – has been unmatched,” Thomas-Ahyase said.

She said the spirit of her late Vincentian-born friend and fellow attorney Marva Prescod, mother of Fencing Olympian and United States Fencing Hall of Famer Nzingha Prescod, “has stayed” with her.

East Flatbush, Brooklyn resident Marva Prescod, who was also a registered nurse, died from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at Memorial Sloane Kettering in Manhattan on Nov. 16 last year, Nzingha Prescod said. Marva Prescod was 73.

“Though Marva died last November, she stuck with me through my first bout with cancer,” Thomas-Ahyase said. “I loved her so much. She and another fellow attorney, Helene Chowes, have been so loving towards me.”

In addition, Thomas-Ahyase said her three sisters – they call themselves “Merles Girls” – have been at her side. 

She said Dr. Adejola continues to advise her about her diet and treatment, “though she is no longer in the US. 

“She and her husband record spiritual songs just for me, which they send to my WhatsApp to give me strength,” said Thomas-Ahyase, who first came to the US at 18, upon her mother’s application for permanent residency for herself and her sister, two years older.

But Thomas-Ahase said she soon returned to her native land, Trinidad and Tobago, to study government and law.

“But finding that I had no funds for that endeavor, I returned to New York at 19, knowing that I could work and go to school at the same time,” she said, disclosing that she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and economics from Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY); and a Master of Arts in political science, with sub-specialization in Economic Development of the Caribbean and Latin America, and a Master of Business Administration in economics, specializing in international economics and finance – both from New York University.

Thomas-Ahase also said that she attained a Master of Philosophy from Columbia University and pursued studies in Political Economy and economic development of less developed nations in the Ph. D. program at the same university.

She said she obtained her Juris Doctor (law) degree from New York Law School.

Thomas-Ahase said she served, for several years, as an adjunct professor/teacher at CUNY colleges and private business schools, specializing in accounting, economics, and Math.

Additionally, she said she practiced law for many years but lamented that she “had to go into semi-retirement after this most recent cancer diagnosis.”