Today is our Tribal Historian Lois Burns Jenkins’ birthday. As you know, she passed away on August 26, 2024. On this day I want to discuss something she noted in the family materials: the strong prevalence of cancer in this family tree.
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| Lois B. Jenkins |
She herself died from that dreadful and challenging disease. I also want to share this with readers who may want to know what health challenges have appeared in our line. In discussing the Hunter/Burns family history, more than one relative recorded how many of us have faced cancer.
I plan to tell a little of my mother’s story, though in her lifetime she kept many details private. This post will not go into much detail, out of respect for her wishes.
These are the people who battled cancer and died as a result, according to family members and my mother’s notes.
Our "Tribal Chief" James Lee Burns died in May 1988 after battling prostate cancer.
His wife, Mrs. Emma Lee Hunter Burns, died in December 1968 after battling breast cancer. My mother told how James and Emma’s children who lived in Chicago brought their mother to some of the finest hospitals in the Chicago area. Ultimately they decided there was not much more that could be done, and she returned home to Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
Clee Dorothy Burns Taylor had cancer. She died aged 36 in 1968. Her mother Emma took a long train journey to Detroit, Michigan to bring her back home to Mound Bayou where Aunt Clee passed away.
Vera Lee Burns Batiest according to my mother's notes, had cancer. She died in her 50s in 1988. My aunt noted that she had one main symptom that later affected my mother as well — a loss of appetite.
Our Tribal Griot Lee Alice Burns Travis died of cancer in 1998.
My grandmother Gurtine Burns Howard died of cancer in 2012.
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Now we discuss James and Emma's grandchildren who had cancer.
Jacqueline Batiest Lane (daughter of Vera Batiest) died of cancer in 2000. My mother and her older sister had been talking about her condition, treatments, and prognosis before her death.
Geneva Etoya Batiest Dawson (daughter of Vera Batiest) died of cancer in 2014.
Cynthia Howard Wilkerson (daughter of Gurtine Howard) died of cancer in 2020.
Charles Spencer Robinson (son of Lucyrene Burns Robinson) died of cancer in 2018.
Calvin Burns (son of Emerson Burns) died of cancer in 2018. He was the MC for many Hunter/Burns reunions, known for his rich, deep voice, which his illness claimed.
Corarena Surrunda Burns Mills (daughter of our "Tribal Sage") – passed away from cancer in 2024.
Our tribal historian's journey
It started in 2016 — a decade ago, believe it or not. My mother had been complaining about pain in her leg, which at one point led her to start using a walking cane. It got so bad that she eventually had to go to the emergency room.
When they examined her, they found a compound fracture in her hip. From my recollection, and from her own statements, she had not fallen. It was just something that happened. She needed immediate surgery to repair the damage.
My mother gave her illness another name, insisting she had a condition that affected the strength of her bones. Later, as she faced ongoing health challenges, she told me her doctors had found abnormal cells. Her response was that she knew what that meant.
During the summer of 2016 she took her cane and made it to Los Angeles for our family reunion. She even made it to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
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| 2016 — Grand Canyon, Arizona |
For a number of years she had successful treatments, but she would never talk much about the true nature of her condition. She hardly talked about her treatments.
After the 2023 reunion she began to suffer serious health challenges. She sometimes questioned whether she should have gone, though she never truly regretted going. She complained of increased pain in her hip and spent more time in bed than usual. Once the true nature of her condition was known to me, she said she just could not accept that word.
I had thought one problem was that she had always been a light eater. Her specialists told her she needed to eat more and to drink Ensure (she never liked Ensure). What I first took as a light appetite became something else: there were days she would not eat at all. It took a while before it was clear how ill she had become.
She spent the rest of that summer going back and forth between a rehab facility and the hospital before going into hospice care. She improved so much that summer that it was hard to imagine she would be gone by late August 2024.
A piece of advice
The only advice I can offer is this: you do not have to face decisions about care alone. Let someone know what is going on — ideally someone you trust, and even better if you know a medical professional who understands long-term conditions such as cancer.
My mother chose to face this largely on her own, and I feel that was a mistake. It is still up to you whom you tell, and how much. Even if only one person knows, remember that it does not have to stay only between you and your doctor.
If you have survived cancer, or if you know someone else in the family who passed away from it, feel free to let me know. My email is below.
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| Email Me! |
You're free to email me if you would like to share pics of those affected by cancer and of course as more of a visual record for this branch of the family tree.