Ke­jan Haynes

Lead Ed­i­tor–News­gath­er­ing

ke­jan.haynes@guardian.co.tt

For­mer Miss Uni­verse T&T and ex-gov­ern­ment sen­a­tor Nicole Dy­er-Grif­fith has re­vealed that her bat­tle with breast can­cer has tak­en a new turn, with doc­tors de­tect­ing a tu­mour in her brain.

In a video shared on so­cial me­dia, she spoke open­ly about the lat­est de­vel­op­ment.

“A few days be­fore Car­ni­val, I had to do an MRI, and the re­sults came back show­ing that there is a tu­mour in my brain. That is what you call a brain Mets, which is metas­ta­sis. That is when the can­cer spreads to an­oth­er part of the body, and in this case, it went to my brain.”

Dy­er-Grif­fith, who was first di­ag­nosed with stage three in­flam­ma­to­ry breast can­cer in April 2024, had un­der­gone chemother­a­py and ra­di­a­tion. She de­scribed her ini­tial re­ac­tion to the lat­est news as frus­tra­tion and dis­be­lief. “You can­not be se­ri­ous. I mean, all for cry­ing out loud, good grief. Give a man a break.”

De­spite the set­back, she has turned to her faith for strength, draw­ing on the bib­li­cal sto­ry of Job. “I kept go­ing back to the sto­ry of Job. It speaks to weath­er­ing storms, be­ing test­ed, push­ing the lim­its, and through all of it, not los­ing hope. It is about mak­ing sure that your faith is stronger than the test.”

She now pre­pares for an­oth­er round of treat­ment, in­clud­ing surgery and tar­get­ed ra­di­a­tion.

“So, the next step is surgery again, with­in the next week or so. We do tar­get­ed ra­di­a­tion. And all I’m hear­ing in my head is my friend from ra­di­a­tion say­ing, ‘Do not come back.’ I mean, I re­al­ly didn’t want to come back, and es­pe­cial­ly so soon. This is in­sane, but it is what it is.”

She said she has found com­fort in the sup­port of her loved ones and the wider com­mu­ni­ty.

“I can on­ly be be­cause of God’s grace, be­cause of my fam­i­ly’s sup­port, and be­cause of you. I re­al­ly do ap­pre­ci­ate it. So, thank you.”

She al­so asked for prayers for her fam­i­ly, ac­knowl­edg­ing the toll the ex­pe­ri­ence has tak­en on them.

“When you’re lift­ing me in prayer, lift them up as well. It’s very chal­leng­ing for all of us.”

De­ter­mined to keep mov­ing for­ward, she re­mains fo­cused on main­tain­ing a pos­i­tive out­look.

“One step at a time, one day at a time. This smile is not go­ing to come off be­cause by my faith is where I’ll be test­ed, and I will show you God’s grace and God’s glo­ry.”

Dy­er-Grif­fith’s re­silience has res­onat­ed with many as she con­tin­ues her fight.

“We have an­oth­er thing to do, and we’re go­ing to do it to­geth­er. I know you have my back, so we’re go­ing to do this to­geth­er,” she said.