Seven years after her passing, Ayana Dyette’s legacy lives on through action and advocacy.
The Ayana S. Dyette Foundation hosted its 7th annual 5K “Feel the Teal” in honour of the late national volleyball player, and to raise awareness about cervical cancer.
Ayana Dyette passed away in 2018 at the age of 32 after a battle with cervical cancer.
But before the national volleyball player died, she made a heartfelt request that her story be shared to help save the lives of other women.
Ayanna’s sister Wendy Rubero said her family has since established a foundation in her memory to honour her last wish.
“The Ayanna S. Dyer Foundation for Cervical Cancer, we are here to advocate about information relative to cervical cancer awareness. We are here to educate, prevent with the help of others, and hopefully eradicate. My family and I want to encourage you, your loved ones, to please get tested.”
Family Friend Allison Painter shared some of the ways the foundation aims to achieve its goal.
“So some of the initiatives that we support the year coming out from our 5k will be partnering with the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society and doing mobile units throughout Trinidad and Tobago. In addition to that, we also do what we call a PAP party, where we have PAP tests being done, HPV vaccinations, and a lot of different efforts around health and wellness for women. We also support by going to schools and educating our children and our youth around HPV vaccination, which is a critical area.”
The foundation’s 7th annual 5k “Feel the Teal” was held on Sunday morning.
Ms. Painter said the event received overwhelming support.
“So this year the race has grown from about 50 when we started in 2019 and we’re here today and we have 1 ,500 participants. We sold out a month after launching and we had a lot of people up till last night asking us to purchase bibs to come and join us today.”
Cervical Cancer awareness month is observed in January each year.