Skin cancer makes warrior queen

Following World Cancer Day on 4 February 2019, Miss Universe 1993 Dayanara Torres yesterday revealed that she had been diagnosed with skin cancer.

A visibly emotional Torres, on her Instagram account, spoke in a video on finding out about her condition. She spoke in Spanish, her native language.

“As mothers, we are always taking care of everyone around us… our kids, family, friends and often we forget to take care of ourselves,” the English caption began

“Today, I have some sad news… I have been diagnosed with skin cancer ‘melanoma’ from a big spot/mole I never paid attention to. Even though it was new, it had been growing for years and had an uneven surface,” she added in the same post.

Torres revealed that if not for the urging of her fiancé, Marvel co-producer Louis D’Esposito, she would not have immediately undergone a medical checkup.

“My fiancé Louis had been begging me to have it checked and finally made an appointment himself,” she related.

“After a biopsy and a second surgery last Tuesday, the results unfortunately are positive.

Now we are waiting to see which treatment I will be receiving, but they have already removed a big area from the back of my knee and also, they have removed two lymph nodes at the top of my leg where it had already spread,” the Puerto Rican beauty queen said.

Her sons, Torres added, are “a bit scared” but know about her faith. “I have put everything in God’s hands and I know he has all control…,” she wrote.

Torres has two sons, Cristian and Ryan, by her former husband, singer Marc Anthony.

Her children, she said, “know they have a warrior of a mommy.”

Ever the beauty queen, Torres made it a point to make her experience a lesson from which many may learn.

“Please never forget to take care of yourself. If you see something or feel something different in your body have it checked,” she urged. “I had no idea skin cancer could spread anywhere else in the body.”

Torres first came to the Philippines in 1994 to crown her successor in the international beauty contest. She stayed on to make movies with actors including Aga Muhlach, who became her boyfriend at some point. She was also part of the original five hosts of the long-running ABS-CBN variety show ASAP with Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Pops Fernandez and Ariel Rivera.

After her marriage to Marc Anthony, she stayed out of the limelight, focusing on being a being a mother, her “main role,” she told local reporters in 2017 when she came back to the country to serve as one of the judges of the Miss Universe pageant which was being held in Manila.