00:00In 2017 this was Anika Balcon Roberts. Today she's almost unrecognizable not
00:08because of age but because of what her body has survived in the past eight
00:13years. In 2018 she was diagnosed with stage 2 pancreatic cancer a disease with
00:20survival odds that by some estimates sit as low as 15 to 20 percent after five
00:26years. In February of 2019 she underwent a distal pancreatectomy with spleenectomy
00:33removing two-thirds of her pancreas and her spleen. It comes like you have a car. If
00:40you remove two of the arm parts in the engine would the vehicle be able to run
00:50like before? No. So it's the same thing that has happened to me. They removed two
00:55important organs. It has caused a lot of digestive issues. It has caused extreme
01:03exhaustion. She spent nearly two years on a medically approved sick leave under the
01:09care of Mount Hope and St James hospitals. In early 2020 doctors discharged her
01:16clearing her for light duties. She returned to work at the Ministry of Planning as a cleaner
01:22one a post she held since 2014 and was made permanent in 2016. According to Balcon Roberts
01:30it was felt by other employees that she was not well and they attempted to shield her by
01:35not submitting her documents allowing her to stay at home. But we're told the ministry
01:41subsequently cracked down inevitably leaving her in financial frustration. Terrible because I've
01:48always been independent so I've had to depend on a lot of help and I'm not accustomed to that so
01:55it has
01:55been a torment. Balcon Roberts has since completed two employer requested medicals one in December 2020
02:03another in January 2023. Under the Pensions Act and Public Service Commission regulations
02:10it's the ministry's responsibility and not hers to convene a medical board and act on those findings.
02:18Her tenure with the ministry might allow her to qualify for gratuity or ill health pension.
02:24She has not returned to work in more than five years after her first medical and she says no decision
02:31has been made.
02:32From your knowledge your medical that was supposed to go to the Ministry of Planning has not gone
02:39to the Ministry of Planning. No it hasn't because they would have contacted me you understand and
02:47I don't know what is happening because nobody's calling to say anything you call in and when you
02:54call you can't get no information you understand. And all you're hearing from the Ministry of Planning is
02:58that you have abandoned your job. Yeah as I left my job. With no salary since November 2020,
03:06Balcon Roberts has relied on family and charitable organizations. Support she says has waned as the
03:13cost of living rises. The cancer survivor tells us that she has approached the Ministry of Social
03:18Development but says continued assistance requires ongoing clinical documentation she's unable to get
03:25to be a safe and legal. Being the mother to a 14 year old daughter makes the entire experience even
03:31more jarring.
03:32My daughter, I has always provided for her in every way and now I'm unable to do that so if
03:41I could work I will work.
03:44I'm not accustomed to depending on people. I don't like it at all. Medical literature on stage two pancreatic cancer
03:52notes that a patient's odds of reaching the five-year survival mark actually improve the
03:57longer they live past surgery. The overall odds calculated at the time of surgery sit around 15
04:04percent but for patients who make it to the three-year mark the odds of reaching year five rise
04:10to over 60 percent. Balcon Roberts is now six years out but survival she says hasn't translated
04:18into stability. But this whole situation has taken a terrible turn on me being able to having to
04:27depend on people after all years of I being in control of my life in every way you understand
04:33so it's terrible on me emotionally physically mentally everything but I keep fighting it.
04:41For now Anika Balcon Roberts waits a survivor of a disease that kills most of who face it
04:47still fighting a system that hasn't yet told her what comes next in terms of gratuity pension or
04:55otherwise.
04:56you
04:59you
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