Bus driver Rene “Bonnie” Eve’s life began to fall apart at a union meeting last May.

“I started having severe chest pains,” she said. “To be honest I thought I was having a stroke or a heart attack.”

An ambulance rushed her to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. Over the coming weeks, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called myeliofibrosis, a bone marrow disorder that disrupts the body’s normal production of blood cells.

Since August, she has been undergoing radiation and chemotherapy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. She also had a bone-marrow transplant.

“The diagnosis was a shock to me,” she said. “I still can’t believe it. It is very painful.”

Her sister, Shirley Eve Burgess, was found to be a bone marrow match, and agreed to give some of her bone marrow.

“I was lucky because most people have to wait a long time to find a match,” Rene said.

Unfortunately, life has not been smooth sailing since the transplant. She has had a number of health issues, and her body is showing signs of rejecting the new bone marrow cells.

“It’s like my sister’s cells and my cells are fighting each other,” she said.

Rene’s 21-year-old daughter Jamila had just finished her first year of forensic science at Mitchell College in Connecticut when her mother was diagnosed.

She has since put her studies on hold to be at her mother’s side in Boston.

“I am coping because I am strong-minded,” said Jamila.

“I pray a lot. I also have the support of my godparents and my aunties back at home. The hardest thing is seeing my mother cry and in pain. It is a learning experience for me.”

Rene said it was sometimes hard to stay positive.

“It really gets to you sometimes,” she said in a Skype interview with The Royal Gazette. She was overcome by tears when asked if she missed working and Bermuda.

“She gets very homesick,” said Jamila. “It has been a very hard and stressful operation to go through. It took them three days to put the bone marrow into her. She has her good days, and her bad days. “We have support around us to help us get through it.”

Friends and family have organised a gospel concert this weekend to raise money to help her with some of her medical expenses.

Jamila said: “Financially, this is very difficult. Although Government Employee Health Insurance pays for the treatment, we are still left with paying 20 per cent of medication costs. Sometimes they might use multiple medications on my mom to try to combat a problem. Each of those medications has to be paid for, even if they don’t work — and they aren’t cheap.”

The Eves must also pay for living expenses in Boston. They expect to be there for a year before Rene’s immune system is strong enough for her to travel back to Bermuda.

When Rene found out she would have to be away for up to a year, she decided to sell everything because she couldn’t afford to maintain homes in Bermuda and the United States.

“This was very emotional for her,” said Jamila. “During this whole process of my mother finding out she had cancer she was scared and sad but she is very strong through it all. Thanks to her family, her sister, Anita Fleming, and her numerous friends they have put on potluck dinners and different events to help raise money for her. We appreciate them all and thank them highly for their love and support during this time.”

Rene has also received help from cancer charity PALS.

“We are grateful to them,” said Jamila.

“Every little bit helps,” said Rene. “I would like to thank everyone who has helped so far. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support of my friends and family. It is very hard.”

Gina Spence, Rev Judith Gardner, Preston Swan, Marissa Trott and Paul Smith are among those performing at Saturday’s concert at Whitney Institute Middle School.

Tickets, $10 for children, $20 for adults or $30 for patrons, are available from Caesar’s Pharmacy, Size Wise, People’s Pharmacy, Bella Cafe, Speciality Inn and Robertson’s Drugstore. Doors open at 7pm and the show starts at 7.30pm. For more information call 278-3305.