ENTERTAINER William “Smokey” Burke is back in Barbados after successful cancer treatment in Canada.
The DAILY NATION caught up with a trim Smokey while he was having lunch at Marshall’s Bar & Restaurant (Mother Cat Shop), in Holders Hill, St James, yesterday.
He returned to the island last Monday night after spending seven months in Toronto where he underwent chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma at the Odette Cancer Centre at the Sunnybrook Hospital.
“As far as I know I’m in pretty full remission. For sure my liver is clear and I’m here for a month and going back in November to get my first check-up,” he said.
He has to have quarterly check-ups for the next year, followed by annual checks for five years after.
Given the experience at Sunnybrook, where he was treated by the top oncologists for non-Hodgkins in North America, Dr Rena Buckstein, Smokey said the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) was like chalk to cheese in comparison.
He however acknowledged that the QEH lacked the necessary equipment “that could make life easier for Bajans”, and that he had met some caring staff there.
Except for the absence of hair, Smokey is his usual funny self, full of quips and jokes.
“It’s just good to be back home,” he said as he savoured a plate of breadfruit coucou and fish.
He said he owed the maintenance of his sanity to support and constant prayers, calls, emails and texts from friends in Barbados and Canada. (YB)
