icoel Wainwright has gained 40 pounds over the last year.

She said everyone tells her she looks great. She?s running everyday for about 45 minutes to an hour. She?s determined to get the weight off. That?s her personality and it is how she was able to fight breast cancer and win.

Vomiting, nausea and intense pain are just some of the physical side effects patients undergoing chemotherapy can expect to experience. The treatment can also take an emotional toll on sufferers who feel helpless, anxious and often worried.

But for athletic Nicoel Wainwright the situation was different. A genuine positive, cheerful attitude inwardly and outwardly has been key to her success.

?I really didn?t have any side effects except that I would feel tired and drawn to the bed,? she said. ?And I would fight that feeling and come home and do laundry and housework just like normal. To tell you the truth I never accepted it as anything more than the flu.?

This positive attitude and her faith that God?s will would be done enabled Ms Wainwright to face the treatments without getting depressed.

She was told on November 4 last year that she had breast cancer. ?It was the day before my birthday,? she said. Her doctors quickly scheduled surgery to remove the lump and lymph node, and then a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation in an effort to kill any cells that might have lingered.

The chemotherapy treatment was done in Bermuda at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. The first set was conducted in four visits, three weeks apart. Ms Wainwright went to KEMH?s oncology department where a needle was placed in her vein to allow the chemotherapy to course through her body.

Each of the four treatments lasted between 45 minutes and an hour and a half. Ms Wainwright said she was surprised not to have any of the side effects she had been warned about after the first three treatments, but after the fourth she did experience some vomiting.

?I started feeling sick,? she said, ?and the doctor gave me a note saying I couldn?t work.?

She said her employers were understanding and supportive. She worked outdoors cleaning swimming pools but the chemotherapy required her to have minimal exposure to the sun so she eventually had to quit. ?Your whole life has to be switched. But there is nothing that could have brought me down,? she said. ?One of my girlfriends took me aside very seriously one day and asked me to be completely honest with her. She asked if I was really okay and I told her ?I?m not worried about a thing? it brings goose bumps to me now when I think about it,? she said.

By the time Ms Wainwright completed her fourth chemotherapy session she said she also noticed that she did things more slowly. ?I would go into a daze and would find myself micing. I couldn?t work in that condition,? she said. Right after her fourth chemotherapy session, Ms Wainwright went to the Lahey Clinic in Boston to undergo radiation treatment. Radiation is a more localised treatment that sees the radioactive rays focused on the area where the cancer cells were.

Her treatment sessions were short averaging between 12 and 15 minutes but she had to have them daily for eight weeks. The exposure to the rays burnt her skin, but she said it wasn?t painful at all. Family and friends went to stay with her at different intervals so she always felt supported and remained cheerful.

Doctors warned Ms Wainwright that she would feel ill and very tired or sleepy. ?But I never felt tired or sleepy,? she said. I just wanted to eat. I noticed I was eating too much. More than my regular three square meals a day and I got concerned and asked the doctors if that was normal,? she said.

Doctors told her the increased appetite was a good sign and reminded her that the radiation was draining for her body. They pointed out that the food would help strengthen her and that her body naturally knew this.

?They said they were very happy that I was gaining weight because so many people get weak and then lose weight which makes them even weaker.?

n total, Ms Wainwright said she had between 48 and 52 radiation treatments. ?The last six were boosters,? she said. In the booster treatments higher doses of radiation are made in an even more localised area than the general radiation. ?The booster machine came down very close to my body and the area treated had been marked with a pen by the doctors. Here they radiated just where the lump was removed. In the radiation treatments before they had radiated my entire breast,? she said.

Despite the higher doses of radiation, Ms Wainwright said she still felt no pain. ?I had absolutely no feeling whatsoever,? she said. After the eight weeks in Boston she returned home to Bermuda and rested for just two weeks before resuming chemotherapy.

?A recent study said that cancer is aggressive in black women and that?s why I had the second set of chemotherapy treatments with Taxol,? she said. Each of the four sessions in the second round of chemotherapy was considerably longer in length.

?The first one was six hours long,? she said. ?But I didn?t mind, I took my lap top and watched movies and I had my phone so, I was fine.?

Each of the remaining three treatments was four hours long.

Ms Wainwright said she was told that she would feel a lot of aches and pain with the second round of chemotherapy but that she didn?t experience that until the third session.

?After my third chemo I was barely able to walk,? she said. ?I was in a lot of pain and I said to myself that I would be ready for the fourth, that it would not get me down.?

Ms Wainwright said she believes she was able to keep worry free because at the slightest indication of a problem she was quick with a prayer to sustain her. I said a prayer before that fourth treatment and I tell you I had no pain whatsoever,? she said. On September 15, 2006 Ms Wainwright?s doctor confirmed that the breast cancer was in remission. Now she?s embarked on a strict exercise regimen to lose her excess weight.

?I?ve always been a runner and exercised,? she said. ?Since the treatments slowed me down, the weight came on ? but I?m back out there.

?I?m starting to walk first but I run every morning for 45 minutes to an hour. I love it. One day I found myself way down Bailey?s Bay.?

Her can do attitude can be inspiring for others and recognising this, she said she?s willing to talk to anyone about her experience.

?I tell people to feel free to ask me any question they want about cancer,? she said.

?Absolutely anything, nothing will upset me ? I?ve not been upset through this at all.?

Anyone wanting to talk with Ms Wainwright can email her at talktonikhotmail.com or by calling 737-4447.