When we tune in to the news, we hear about people’s stories and often they are during challenging and traumatic times. A lot of the time, that’s the last we hear about them.
I often think about people I’ve interviewed in the past and how they are doing. Often, I wonder about the children I met years ago and how their lives turned out.
Last summer, I went to the Esquimalt Lagoon for the Eats and Beats event and saw a sign stating that Metchosin teen Jaimey Hamilton would be performing.
Musically, I didn’t know about Hamilton, but the name was one I knew all too well. I’d interviewed her several times during her childhood, but I had no idea what she was up to now.
I met Hamilton when she was a student at Hans Helgesen Elementary School. Her school administrators had hosted a school fundraiser for cancer research. If the students could raise $1,000, the principal would let the students duct tape her to a flagpole. The campaign was so successful the students raised $5,000. Hamilton was 11 years old at the time and happily put the final piece of duct tape over her principal’s mouth.
Every time I met Hamilton, it always involved some type of cancer awareness. This 19-year-old has had cancer three times in her young life.
“I was first diagnosed when I was five in 2005, then again when I was nine in 2009 and then again when I was 12 in 2012,” said Hamilton.
Seeing her being promoted as a musician made me happy for her. I’d only ever written about her hardships, and was excited to chat with her about great things that are happening.
“Some people have followed my story since I was young, and now they are following my music story,” she said.
I don’t recall ever asking Hamilton about her hobbies or dreams when she was young, and I wish I had. Speaking with her now, I learned how interlinked her love of music is with her childhood experiences.
Hamilton first picked up a guitar and started learning to play when she was young. Around the age of nine, she began to take lessons and she grew a passion for music. By age 12, she had written her first song.
It’s interesting that her love for guitar blossomed at her first cancer relapse, and her first song was written around the time of her second cancer relapse.
Hamilton underwent high doses of chemotherapy, spent long periods of time in an isolation unit in the B.C. Children’s Hospital and eventually required a bone-marrow transplant.
During the time of her bone marrow transplant, she was in isolation for a couple of months and, after leaving the hospital, she had to stay in Vancouver for 100 days before she could return home.
“My parents lived in a motor home in the children’s hospital parking lot,” Hamilton said, adding she had two other siblings who would come to visit, but were being cared for back home in Greater Victoria.
During the times that Hamilton underwent treatment, she had to take time away from home, school and friends. Her guitar and music came with her to the hospital.
“I was able to fall back on my music then. I would write songs and play my guitar when I felt up to it,” she said. “I am a survivor and a fighter, and when I perform, I want to be an example of that. I want people to feel inspired when they listen to my music.”
She started performing at local fundraisers and took any opportunity she could to hone her craft.
Hamilton has quite a few impressive gigs on her resumé, including playing at the legislature on Canada Day, Eats and Beats festival at Esquimalt Lagoon, and SunFest in Duncan for the past three summers.
Hamilton is enrolled in a music-performance program offered through Camosun College and the Victoria Conservatory of Music.
“I’ve always wanted to pursue music and now I am able to live a normal life,” said Hamilton. “Ultimately, I’d like to have a career performing music and being a solo artist.”
Charla Huber works in communications and Indigenous relations for M’akola Group of Societies.
