Anyone who knows Dede Cooper will vouch for her as a force of nature synonymous with the RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup.

The organiser of the event that attracts some of the best young sailors in the world to Bermuda, Cooper is used to handling every problem that comes her way.

But this year, while still working through all the logistics, she was coping with perhaps her biggest challenge of all. Cancer.

Every night at the end of racing last week, Cooper was on hand to welcome her sailors back to dock before rushing off to have chemotherapy. After a Grade 3 brain tumour was diagnosed, Cooper has undergone eight hours of open brain surgery and is in her ninth month of a yearlong course of chemotherapy.

Overseeing the Junior Gold Cup at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club has provided Cooper joy during some dark days — but there was nowhere else in the world she would rather be.

“It does set you back, so you want to be able to engage in something normal,” she said.

“So for me to be able to have this as a distraction, as something I can put my heart and soul into while I am challenged with these health issues, has been a saving grace.

“Some days you wake up and think life’s unfair and some days you wake up and realise the sun is still there behind the clouds. So you get up, find something to do and be grateful for what you have.

“When you get up and you don’t feel well, you have to find a way to put the scary voice and the worry away. Having something like the Junior Gold Cup, knowing how positive it is and knowing I can make a difference makes the scary days not as scary.

“I’m getting up, keeping myself busy and always doing some sort of project — I’d have my hand in every pie if I could — but knowing I can keep doing this while being unwell makes me want to fight the unwell days.”

There have also been moments of great delight, with her daughter, Julia, getting married last spring. At the time of the wedding, Cooper was watching her calorie intake and eating habits in an attempt to help halt the progress of the illness, but her doctor told her to forget the worry and enjoy the day.

“My daughter got married in May, which was wonderful and precious,” she said. “We weren’t sure what my health was going to be like, as she got engaged before this diagnosis.

“When you are diagnosed, you start researching all the things you shouldn’t be eating to get well — and it’s no sugar, no processed foods and all the stuff we already know.

“We were talking to my neuro-oncologist about the wedding and he said, ‘Look, I know you’re being very good about your diet and your eating, but I’m working really hard to give you your health so you can enjoy special moments in life. If you don’t eat a piece of wedding cake at your daughter’s wedding because you’re worried about sugar, then I’m not doing my job properly’.”

“And he was right. That was the most special moment and I should have a piece of cake, and celebrate life and her wedding. So I had the cake and I was very happy about it.”

But the end of this interview ends where it started, with Cooper wanting to talk about the Junior Gold Cup. For 14 years, this has been one of her greatest pleasures and, with all that was going on in the background, this year took on more emotional significance than ever.

“The RenaissanceRe Junior Gold Cup was started in 2003 and, with cancellations during Covid, this is our 20th running of the event,” she said.

“This is my fourteenth being involved. I pick out the countries that we are going to invite. I make sure the ratio of male to female is at least 3:1, match the sailors with our host families, find the trophies, organise the social activities and try to make sure it’s the best week in the lives of the kids that come here.

“I’m convinced it is the best sporting event we have in Bermuda for youth. It means the world to me to be involved in something like this, where the best in the world come to Bermuda and challenge themselves, learn about different countries and families invite the children into their homes.

“There is nothing else like it and I’m so proud to be part of it.”