It all started with just a shower. At the young age of 36, JaQuitta Williams, former news anchor and reporter at WSB-TV, was going through her usual shower routine like on any typical day. Using her exfoliating gloves, she felt a lump on her breast. With no family history and a commitment to living a healthy lifestyle, JaQuitta could not have imagined the news she’d receive a few weeks later while at work. Infiltrating carcinoma, or more specifically, triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive form of cancer that disproportionately affects Black women at higher rates, often at younger ages, was the life-changing diagnosis. Initially feeling numb, JaQuitta went back to work until the weight of the diagnosis eventually overwhelmed her, prompting her to share the news with her colleagues, including the late Jovita Moore.
Her treatment was intensive, including four rounds of chemotherapy, 6 weeks of radiation, and surgery to remove the tumor. While she was initially afraid of losing her hair, once it began falling out, she realized that her life mattered much more than her hair.
“When you really measure hair up against survival, losing my hair didn’t matter,” she reflects.
Refusing to see her diagnosis as a death sentence, JaQuitta created the WSB-TV segment “JaQuitta’s Journey” to chronicle her experience, treatment, and recovery. JaQuitta could not go on her journey alone and feels grateful for the support she had from close friends, colleagues, and viewers’ emails that poured in. However, once the effects of her chemotherapy treatments intensified, JaQuitta eventually took a step back from the news.
The choice to leave the news came with a new philosophy on life—she could no longer center her life around work, instead she needed to center work around her life. This decision, among healing rituals that grounded her days, such as listening to gospel music, taking walks, journaling, and watching comfort shows that allowed her to laugh, like “The Andy Griffith Show,” all changed her outlook on life.
JaQuitta admits that when she first heard the diagnosis, all she could think was “I’m going to die.” Yet, as she reflects on her experience, that initial thought transformed into “Cancer taught me how to live.” Eighteen years of being cancer-free, JaQuitta seeks to live each day fully and with joy and peace. Gone are the days of being surrounded by negativity or working the 12-hour chaotic pace of television news, as JaQuitta’s goal is to prioritize the health of her mind, body, and spirit.
Her message to women and Black women in particular is to know yourself and what is normal for your body and to recognize when something is not right.
“Early detection saved my life,” she says. JaQuitta’s journey is proof to all who she inspires that even when facing life’s greatest challenges, it is never too late to start truly living.
“When you really measure hair up against survival, losing my hair didn’t matter,” Williams reflects.