"What do you LIV for?" That's the question being asked by Cherise Couri as she seeks to raise money for surgery to remove two tumours from her liver. A slender young woman with a broad smile and sparkling eyes, Cherise had suffered a Wilms tumour in her infancy, a form of cancer, which left her with only one kidney.She spent months in treatment as a small girl–surgery, chemo and radiation–but eventually went into remission and lived "with minor health conditions" up until last year, as she said in a note to me the other day.
Now Cherise is ill again–seriously ill, and in need of more surgery. But let her tell it:"I was in school at Mt Hope and I thought I had a gas pain because I got a sensation under my right rib like something was protruding. I was completely out of breath and in a lot of pain. Although I was suffering I decided to go to class, but an hour into the class I had no change and I was uncomfortable because the pain was becoming worse and my breathing was even worse.
"That Monday I was taken to the doctor, where I went for a CT scan that showed I had two adenomas on my liver and one was protruding, which would cause the sensation under my rib. Later that day I was admitted into West Shore Medical Private Hospital, where I was under pain management over the next two days. The doctor then told me I had pneumonia."The next day I started to swell. By the end of the week I'd put on five pounds of water weight and on top of that I couldn't move because every part of my body was extremely sore to the touch. Doctors became very concerned and puzzled.
"I was on a lot of antibiotics and my white blood cell count was not going down. After four weeks in the hospital, drawing blood every day and lying in this hospital bed with a lot of friends and family coming and going, I realised the amount of love and support I had. My parents would come as early as seven every morning and leave as late as eight or nine in the night."That last week I was in West Shore Medical, arrangements were being made for me to go to Baptist Hospital in Miami. I was taken from the hospital on December 14 via an ambulance to Piarco, where I met the air ambulance that would take me to Miami. When I arrived in Miami I was admitted into Baptist Hospital where I stayed for eight days, which felt like eight years. All this time my parents were by my side.
"We returned to my doctors here in the new year and they saw in one of the reports that I had a third tumour on my liver. They told us that adenomas are harmless and don't grow, but unfortunately these are growing and multiplying. I am currently awaiting surgery to be done to take out two of my tumours on my liver so that I can be rid of the pain and misery and hopefully finally live my life normally.
"It is my wish, hope and prayer that I live a normal life after this surgery and have no more trials such as this again. In each situation I've gone through I have held myself together for me and the family members who weren't as strong as me, but sometimes it's nice to be normal and not have to worry about things like this. Unfortunately we don't think of things like that until something happens to us.
"From a young age and from my situation I have been taught to respect and love life and live as though there is no tomorrow–which is often said but not deeply understood until your life is threatened in some way. I know I am God's angel, warrior and messenger. Without a doubt he has been moulding and making me as strong as I can be, and I am honoured to have been that person to show people how to be strong.
"My name is Cherise LauraLee Couri and this is my story in a nutshell." LIV, a fund-raiser for Cherise, is scheduled for 6 pm-midnight on March 8 at 51 Degrees, Cipriani Boulevard, Port-of-Spain. Tickets cost $150. For more information, go to the LIV event page on Facebook.