Singer AdELA Dedicates Song to ‘Warriors’ Fighting Cancer After Best Friend’s Mom Gets Diagnosis: ‘I Want to Send Love to Everybody’

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Singer AdELA Lends Her Powerful Voice to 'Close the Gap'

Singer AdELA was one of the voices featured in SurvivorNet’s last “Close the Gap” conference, an event meant to shine the light on disparities in cancer care.
The singer shared how cancer has touched her life, after her best friend’s mother was diagnosed with bile duct cancer.
Patients and their families often feel a sense of shock and helplessness after a cancer diagnosis. There are steps experts recommend to make the early days after a diagnosis a bit easier.

Singer, rapper, and songwriter AdELA is dedicating a song to all the “warriors” out there fighting cancer, after she was touched by the disease when her best friend’s mom received an “intense” diagnosis.”

AdELA was one of the voices who participated in SurvivorNet’s “Close the Gap” conference last year, an event held to raise awareness about racial disparities when it comes to accessing the best cancer care. The “Don’t Trip” singer shared that she wanted to participate in the event after learning that a close friend’s mother was facing a cancer diagnosis.

“My best friend of 25 years, we grew up together, called me about two weeks ago and said, my mom’s not feeling well and I had to take her to the hospital … within four days, we found out that her mom has bile duct cancer in the liver,” the singer explained. The bile ducts are the tubes that connect the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine.

Bile duct cancer is a cancer of the tubes that bring digestive fluid bile through the liver, according to the National Cancer Institute. After the diagnosis, AdELA expressed feeling the shock and fear that many cancer survivors and their loved ones go through.

“It’s so intense, because you go from everything is OK, I’m not feeling well to this big scary C word,” she said. “And you have no idea what the outcome is. What are your options? What do you do if you don’t have insurance and you can’t go to the hospital and see a specialist?”

Getting the News About Cancer

Many patients are in utter shock the first time they hear they have cancer. Experts recommend taking some simple steps to ensure you are getting all the information you need and to help cope with anxiety you may be feeling.

Dr. Heather Yeo shares some advice for patients after a cancer diagnosis.

“I think it’s really important for them to be able to hear [about their diagnosis] multiple times, to take notes,” Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal cancer surgeon at Weill Cornell Medical Center, told SurvivorNet. “Oftentimes, if a patient doesn’t have a family member with them, I’ll offer to call their family member afterwards because you can hear something from your surgeon and not remember all the details.”

Dr. Yeo also suggests patients seek out second opinions before making treatment decisions if they are able and to speak up about any treatment questions they may have.

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.