"You're not going anywhere without me being with you," Diana promised her best friend, Candace, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2025

NEED TO KNOW

• Candace and Diana, two women from N.Y.C., have been best friends for nearly 50 years
• When Candace was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2025, Diana made her a promise: “You’re not going anywhere without me being with you”
• Diana has shown up to support Candace every single day since her diagnosis, and her family has since established a GoFundMe to help Candace with expenses during her “grueling” treatment

Two women who have been best friends for nearly five decades are leaning on each other through life’s hardest moments — including a devastating breast cancer diagnosis.

Diana and Candace met in college in 1977, and they have been inseparable ever since, according to a now-viral video shared on March 12 featuring the pair on the Instagram account “BestiesNYC,” which shares man-on-the-street style interviews with best friends in New York City.

So when Candace was diagnosed with breast cancer, Diana committed to being there for her every step of the way.

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“I have never once seen Diana leave Candace's side,” Diana’s husband, Kevin, wrote in a GoFundMe created to help cover Candace’s expenses during treatment.

“Not when they were raising their kids. Not when life got hard. And not now — not through this,” he added. 

Kevin went on to say that Candace’s diagnosis has led to a life-altering reality.

“After a mastectomy, the full weight of what she was facing became clear: chemotherapy, then radiation five days a week, then immunotherapy. A long, grueling road. And recently, her hair has started falling out — which, if you know Candace, you know how much that means to her,” he explained.

He added that Candace is going through a scary and harrowing time with very few resources.

“She is facing all of this from public housing, on government assistance, food stamps and Medicare. She has spent her life on the bottom rung, and now she's fighting the hardest battle of that life with almost nothing in her pockets,” Kevin said.

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He said that Diana, who watched her own mother face cancer, shows up for Candace’s chemo treatments every single day.

“She knows the fear, the exhaustion, the elation of overcoming the odds. She looked Candace in the eye and made her a promise: ‘You're not going anywhere without me being with you,' ” he continued.

“Our goal is simple: we want Candace to be comfortable,” Kevin added. “A safe, warm home where she can rest and heal — not public housing, not a waiting room, not a system that treats her like a number.”

“We want her to have choices," he continued. "To live with dignity. And to keep this friendship — this rare, extraordinary friendship — alive for as long as possible.”

Kevin added that Diana and Candace are still hoping to make their annual trip to visit Diana’s family in Barbados this year.

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“Every year, they make their way to the island — staying with family to keep costs down — and for a little while, the world slows down. Candace swims in the ocean. Diana watches the sea turtles. They laugh at the monkeys. It is their ritual, their joy, the thing they hold onto when everything else is hard,” he said. 

“The money we raise will go toward Candace’s treatment, better housing, future bestie adventures, and breast cancer research,” he concluded.

In the comments of the viral video, several airlines, tourism companies and hotels offered to help Diana and Candace enjoy their annual vacation.

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