Ella’s Day – A Day of Pampering for Cancer Survivors and their Families

“One day we will be older people, and our children will be standing where we are today. Love them and treat them with respect. They may be the only ones around to bring you a glass of water.” – Ella Mae Beasley

By Kristen Hernandez

Lauderhill, FL – Cancer is a beast with long tentacles that stretch from the person diagnosed over to family and friends, with lasting consequences. Ella’s Day honors the memory of Ella Mae Beasley and is a day of pampering for the local cancer warriors who fight daily just to have a tomorrow.

The 4th annual Ella’s Day was full of May sunshine and warm breezes as women from around Broward County gathered at St. George Park Community Center, located at 3501 NW 8th St in Lauderhill, to enjoy a warm tribute that honored the strength, resilience and beauty of cancer survivors and fighters.

Every corner of the community center had self-care stations designed for pampering like complimentary massages from Joshua Smith, lash extensions by Phlare, mani’s, pedi’s and facials by Florida Academy of Health and Beauty, gourmet bites and Mermicorn Treats, and a chemical-free body scrub demo by Sensational Faces.

“Women rarely get a day off,” said Taffy Armstrong, 52, who battled breast cancer in 2020. “It’s important to live life every day like it’s your last. And live it to the fullest. Travel. Become an inspiration.”

Those who’ve witnessed the suffering of close friends, parents, siblings, and spouses perhaps should be honored as much as those fighting the battle of life and death. Family members of cancer patients are more susceptible to depression, less likely to be employed, more likely to be functionally limited, and have lower self-rated health compared with family members of non-cancer patients, according to the National Library of Medicine.

When Beasley first discovered the pea-size lump in her breast back in 1979, there were few treatment options available for women, and almost none for black women. Despite having lower overall incidences of the disease, black women had 40% higher mortality rates than white women.

“Back then, breast cancer meant most women wouldn’t survive, especially black women,” said Dr. Pamela Beasley-Pittman, daughter of Ella Mae and Fort Lauderdale city commissioner for District 3. “The lump grew, and eventually she was told to remove it, or it would kill her. She opted to have her breast removed. However, later in her life, when the cancer returned, she chose not to fight it. She was tired.”

Beasley’s life journey was faith-driven, and her “What would Jesus do?” mentality chauffeured every decision she made. After her last cancer diagnosis, she believed that “if cancer doesn’t kill you, chemo will.”

The racial disparity in overall cancer mortality has persisted through the decades and is still the case today. As of 2022, Black women still have a 40% higher death rate when diagnosed with any form of cancer than white women and have the lowest survival rate for all subtypes of the disease, according to the National Library of Medicine.

“We have been reporting this same disparity year after year for a decade,” said Rebecca Siegel, Senior Scientific Director for the American Cancer Society, when the report was published. “Differences in death rates are not explained by Black women having more aggressive cancers. It’s time for health systems to take a hard look at how they are caring differently for Black women.”

Close friends of those who lost the cancer battle came to honor those lives, like Lauderhill resident and poet, Rebecca “Butterfly” Vaughns. She came to Ella’s Day to celebrate her mom and her high school friend, Sandra Lee. Lee was performing during a poetry reading with Vaughns when Lee collapsed on stage and later died from cancer complications. The burden of loss was palpable, but signs of hope walked around the community center.

“To be in the presence of living miracles is profound,” Vaughns said. “When someone leaves you and you happen to be the last person to hear their final words – its life changing.”

Beasley paved the way for local cancer fighters and their loved ones to just be “normal” women for a day. Beasley valued her relationship with Jesus, her five children, and her husband above all else.