Cancer survivor gets to see Burna Boy in concert

After learning that her breast cancer had gone into remission, the only thing on Doreen Lindsay's mind, was to celebrate by seeing Burna Boy live in concert on Sunday at the National Stadium.

That dream has been made possible after she was gifted two VIP tickets to the concert by Izizzi Lottery CEO Alyssa Moo Young. It's been a whirlwind of good news for Lindsay in recent days, as before she heard about the tickets, she had won money in the Izizzi Merry Up Your Christmas promotion. That revelation was preceded by the good news about her diagnosis.

Back in 2020, a then 51-year-old Lindsay was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. While she was assured by her doctors at the Kingston Public Hospital that it was not a death sentence, she was fearful that she would have to sacrifice some of the joys in her life.

"At one point in time when I did the chemo, my nails started to fall out, my toenails and my finger nails. So I was wondering if there was going to be a time where I couldn't dance any more, 'cause I love to dance. I didn't know how I was gonna manage that," she explained.

Lindsay shared that throughout her battle with cancer, her means of survival was by going to parties and remaining the same lively person she had always been.

"I'd go out a lot, go to round robins. People would invite me out and I go to karaoke and all that. That's what I'd use to not feel too downhearted about it," she said. One key part of her life was her daily trips to the Izizzi Lottery outlet on Maverley Avenue.

"I win daily with Izizzi. They had promotion here the last time, I spin the wheel and win some likkle stuff. Money, I've won what, like $50,00," she said.

Lindsay told THE WEEKEND STAR that while she was a daily winner, she did not know about the Izizzi promotion in which holders of losing tickets from the One Drop game had a second chance to win.

"I didn't know it was a promotion until my daughter tell me. She say to me if I heard that there's a promotion going on at Izizzi. I say no. So I say okay then, mi a go try see if me can be a winner then cause nothing tried nothing gained," she said. "She say the ticket have to be a losing ticket, only to find out that my losing ticket was the winning ticket." Lindsay won $25,000, which nicely complemented her medical progress.

"To me, I was happy and I was overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed because I just recently heard that my five lymph nodes that they took out, they were tumour free. So it was a double bonus," she laughed.

After learning of her luck, Moo Young said she would fulfil her dream of seeing Burna Boy by gifting her the tickets. Moo Young said Lindsay was the first winner of the Merry Up Your Christmas promotion.

"And not only was she our first winner, but she became our first winner on the day she became cancer-free. To me that was a really touching story for us because we wanted to show people how easy it is to win with Izizzi and this was double win for her," she said.

Burna Boy is set to take the stage on Sunday for the Jamaica leg of his Love Damini tour. Jamaican recording artistes Popcaan and Lila Ike are also billed to perform.