CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The bond between mother and son, Anne Zakem and Eric MacPhail, is impossible to miss.
Sitting side by side during an interview with SaltWire Network at The Guardian office on Feb. 2, their conversation – and their smiles – flow easily back and forth as they talk about the summer of 2022 when they opened a nacho business that did much more than sell a tasty treat.
It provided Eric with a taste of entrepreneurship and gave both of them an opportunity to raise awareness and money for breast cancer.
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Giving back
Zakem, 50, was diagnosed with the disease in July 2021. Following rounds of radiation, chemotherapy and a double mastectomy later that year, Zakem decided it was time to get back on her feet.
She wanted to give back to the community and spread awareness so she and her son, Eric, 13, started brainstorming ideas.
“When I was growing up, my dad, Abe Zakem, always volunteered, he always gave back," Zakem said. “I told Eric that he was getting older and that entrepreneurships run in our family, so we should do something for the summer … so we threw some business ideas together."
In 2022, mother and son decided to set up a booth at the Downtown Farmers’ Market that happens every Sunday on Queen Street from July to September.
Eric thought they should serve nachos, so Zakem bought the necessary equipment to cook them and keep them warm in the booth. They also had aprons made up that read Keep Calm and Nacho On and ball caps that said Eric’s El Nachos.
“I mean, who doesn’t love nachos," Eric said with a big grin.
Zakem also placed a donation jar in the booth and shared her breast cancer story with anyone who wanted to hear it.
Life lessons
“We had a great summer," Zakem said. “It taught him entrepreneurship, responsibility about where money comes from … what supplies cost and where they come from."
It also struck a chord with customers. People dropped $400 in that donation jar.
Zakem wanted the money to stay in P.E.I. and decided to give it to Hospice P.E.I.
Eric said getting more involved in the community was something he wants to do again.
“I really enjoyed it," said the Grade 8 Queen Charlotte Intermediate School student. “I was talking to other people, socializing and learning how to make money … and being an entrepreneur and giving back to the community."
Eric said it’s a bit early to start thinking if he’ll become an entrepreneur someday. Right now, the teenager said he’s just grateful to still have his mother.
“I was really worried about her because some people die from breast cancer," Eric said. “But, I knew she was going to fight through it and hoped she would get better. I’m glad she is."
Zakem said she had an idea from self-examination before the diagnosis that it was breast cancer.
She decided to face it head-on.
“I’m a positive person to begin with," Zakem said. “What can you do? You can’t change the situation. That was what God has given me in the cards. It’s my job now to advocate for other people, to make change of some sort. It is definitely life-changing."
Zakem is now cancer free but hasn’t returned to her job as a teacher yet.
Zakem’s message is that men and women should be doing regular self-examinations from the age of 20. She also recommends regular checking lymph nodes located in the armpits.
“Be your own advocate, be your own doctor and listen to your body," she said.
Just the facts
Following is information about breast cancer:
- It’s the most common form of cancer among women worldwide.
- It has the second highest mortality rate, second to lung cancer, in North American women.
- For Canadian women, one in eight will be diagnosed and one in 31 will die from it.
- Between 2007 and 2016, there have been nine cases of diagnosis in men in P.E.I.
- Half of all breast cancer cases in P.E.I. women are in women between the ages of 50 and 69.
- The average number of deaths annually in P.E.I. is 20.
- The number of mortalities from breast cancer in P.E.I. declined from 2012 to 2016.
- Over the last 25 years, 1,444 women – almost two per cent of Island women – have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
- During the last 10 years, 27 per cent of all cancer diagnosed in P.E.I. women is breast cancer.
Source: Government of P.E.I. report, 2018
Dave Stewart is a reporter with the SaltWire Network in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @DveStewart.
