When Ingrid Botelho was told she had an aggressive strain of cancer, she felt overwhelmed.

However, the artist said she found support from friends, family and Pals, a charity dedicated to supporting those like her living with cancer.

This weekend, Ms Botelho is preparing to lace up her shoes to take on the 37th Annual Pals Walk to help the charity that helped her in her time of need.

“I’m going to walk as far as I can go,” she said. “I will look and see how far I can go.

“Pals has done so much for me. They have been there for me emotionally if I needed someone to talk to about how to venture through this thing called cancer.

“They really are my pals.”

Ms Botelho said that she received a diagnosis of uterine cancer last year after she noticed spotting and shortness of breath after working out.

“I went to the doctor for a physical,” she said. “They took my blood and said the numbers were the best that I have ever had, which was great, but it didn’t explain what was going on.

“I went to my gynaecologist, and she called me three days later to say I needed to get back in there. I had uterine cancer, the most aggressive you can have.

“It was all so fast. It was almost like I couldn’t catch my breath. It was a lot.”

Ms Botelho said that while she had taken part in earlier fundraising walks and events for Pals, she admitted that she did not really understand the work that the organisation did.

“I just knew they helped people with cancer,” she said. “I just called up there and I didn’t know that they had counsellors there.

“As soon as I called, I knew I was in the right place. I needed someone to talk to because it was way too much to handle.”

Ms Botelho said she underwent chemotherapy between June and October last year, and while she had expected that she would lose her hair, she was hit harder than she thought by the change.

“I thought I had prepared myself for it but nothing can prepare you for that when you have had hair all of your life,” she said.

“I just wanted to do something, and as an artist, I saw my head as a canvas and I wanted to do something with it.

“I wasn’t feeling as beautiful as I wanted, so I got my friend Alice Coutet, another artist, and asked her to paint on my head.”

Ms Botelho said that in addition to an array of flowers, she asked Ms Coutet to write the words “trust God”.

She said her daughter then brought her a peach dress, not knowing that peach happened to be the official colour of uterine cancer ribbons, and brought her to the Botanical Gardens for a photoshoot.

“From that day on I didn’t wear my wig,” she said. “I felt much better.

“I think that a lot of people think cancer is just a physical thing, but it’s a mental thing. It really is, but it makes you stronger.

“I have become a stronger person.”

Ms Botelho added that her cancer experience also taught her how kind people can be.

“There is still kindness in Bermuda,” she said. “I couldn’t have gotten through this without the kindness of others. Kindness is still alive on the island.

“People I didn’t know showed up for me. I have a really, really great support system and that’s important when you have cancer.”

The 37th Annual Pals Walk is scheduled to set out at 9am tomorrow, starting and concluding at the headquarters of Pals on Point Finger Road.

• Anyone interested in supporting the charity can donate through the its website atpals.bm