“I’m scared of snakes,” Cameron told me as we sat on her couch in her flat in Torry, Aberdeen.
I laughed, it just wasn’t the answer I was expecting.
Here was a woman, who at 10 years old, had been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer and had beaten it. Surely she must be scared of it coming back one day?
But having spent a few hours getting to know Cameron Jay, I realised that’s not the type of person she is.
Over the past 14 years, the 26-year-old has established herself as a singer, by singing at charity events starting at just aged 12.
Today she will perform at Courage on the Catwalk – a charity fashion show which recognises the sheer tenacity of women who have been faced with the reality of a cancer diagnosis.
This weekend’s performance will be her last for a while however – as she is seven months pregnant with her first child.
Cameron, who has always been determined to become a singer, said the news came quite unexpectedly.
“It was a big shock when we found out,” Cameron, sporting a retro look, said.
“I thought: ‘What will happen with my career, how will it work?’ But I’m such a driven and motivated person, that’s my problem. I can’t stop taking bookings and I’m always thinking about the creation of my next project.”
And since finding out her exciting news earlier this year, she hasn’t. She’s performed at a string of events – including Aberdeen Fashion Week and Millennium Child’s Survival Concert 2016 at the Beach Ballroom last weekend – and also released her first EP, Fearless, complete with all original songs.
“The first performance I had when I was pregnant was my EP launch,” she said.
“We didn’t know at the time but I was already a month pregnant by then.”
“It’s been absolutely fine, I’ve been loving it. Because I have my clothing sponsor, Scottesque, they’ve just worked with my growth over the past couple of months. The kilts are quite thick material and it sits quite high which has been quite slimming.
“It’s such a thrill still going on stage. Just because I am pregnant doesn’t mean I need to stop. I always thought when I was focusing my career, that I had to do it all before I have children and I think that, pushed me to work harder.”
She did admit that performing can take its toll, pregnant or not, with the practising and even just putting away her clothes and accessories after a show.
“I’ve not even emptied my case from the Survival gig yet,” she told me, pointing to a half opened small suitcase sitting on an armchair.
Cameron and dad-to-be Greg Wood are due to meet their first born on July 7 and will next month celebrate with their friends and family at a baby shower.
It’s not long to go, thus the decision to make this weekend her last performance for a while – until October at least anyway.
In the meantime she will be getting ready to welcome her new baby into the world – and making plans for her career for 2017. She recently signed a two-year licensing deal with Aberdeen-based Syrenne Sync and she is in talks with an agent in Paris who will be contacting record companies and radio stations on her behalf.
It seems the dream that Cameron has had from a young age is all starting to fall into place. But was being a mum always in her plans too?
“I always wanted to have kids and I always thought I’d be a great mum,” she said.
“It was just I wanted to have a career in music and that was always my drive. For some reason though, I don’t know how, I have a gut feeling that this baby is connected to my music somehow.
“I’ve had a lot of experiences in life. Even though I am a happy person there have still been a lot of things in life that have got me down.
“I’ve been really hurt and it has affected me emotionally and that’s where my writing has come from. I think people can hear that if you listen to the songs on Fearless.”
“Whereas the baby will hopefully bring some new inspiration… I feel I am going to be learning life all over again. Which is good because I thrive on learning.
“It’s just going to be a really exciting time.”
Adding that she loves children, she said if she wasn’t a musician, she would definitely like to do something with the younger generation.
“When I’m with kids, I’m in their zone,” she said excitedly.
“They don’t see the world the way we do. We think we know it all but they are very innocent in the way they view the world. I just love that.
“I love seeing it from the way they do. We’re too grown up. Like Peter Pan, I like that concept of never growing up.”
“I don’t think we should grow up. Life is about living and having fun. That’s the main thing, have fun in life and don’t let things get you down.”
Cameron definitely has a lovely way of looking at things in the world. Take her choice of birthing method. She is going down the route of hypnobirthing, a practice that aims to take the fear out of labour for women.
The young mum-to-be and her partner went on a course where they taught how to get rid of the perception people have of birth and “get back to basics”.
“Obviously through movies, TV, media, what other women have told you, you just think it’s all pain and fear.”
“The course was all about eliminating all that and looking at what a women’s body has actually been designed to do.”
“The other lady on the course was riddled with fear, and I know lot of women are and I think that was why I wanted to go. I started thinking ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I’ve got to get a baby out of me’. That’s the scary bit but when you find out how the human body works, you start to see ok so it’s not the way you think it is. It’s all about staying out of the ‘fear’ state so your body doesn’t tense up.”
Cameron told me she is “open to anything alternative really”.
“Through the internet we are learning how things aren’t all the way we believed things to be,” she added.
“They thought the world was totally flat at one point so I do believe we will continue to learn more about the world we live in as time goes on.”
This belief, it seemed to me, stemmed slightly from the way her and her parents dealt with her cancer diagnosis 16 years ago. There was the traditional treatments including chemotherapy – and an operation to have three quarters of her liver removed but when they were told that Cameron was unlikely to survive, her parents looked at other means to help her.
“Alongside the hospital stuff we were doing reiki, my dad took me to a herbal remedist who chose specific herbs for me to take which were good for the liver. We did positive visualisations, like if I went to the toilet or when I was washing my hands, I had to imagine that all the bad toxins were leaving my body and positive thinking. None of my family were allowed to show me they were upset. They had to come in and have fun and do fun things.
“When I used to get reiki my mum said my eyes would look more alive. She could see the difference. With all those things – the chemotherapy, the operation and the more “hippy” alternative things, they just worked together and I got better and survived.”
Over the years the number of check-ups Cameron had to go to decreased and for a long time now, she has had the all-clear. It was at this point in our interview that I asked if she ever thought about the cancer returning.
“I think it’s the same as everybody, the fear is that you don’t know what is happening inside your body,” she said.
“I try not to think, ‘Oh I might have cancer again. It’s a waste of a life to sit and think about that all the time.
“If you just sit and worry about it and have those kind of thoughts going around in your head, then it is just going to manifest in your body as well. I think I am too positive to manifest cancer again however obviously if it came back again I would just think ok we are going to fight this again, we are going to do the alternative stuff, do everything we can but if it came to it and it’s just not working, I would also be ok with that.”
“Obviously it is a scary thought to think that your family may never see you again but in general I just think I’m here living and who knows what happens after you go but I know I am living life and loving it. And that’s all you can do. That’s the only thing you should ever think about. I’m happy, I’m positive, I want to live life and help everybody.”
It’s very inspiring but even more so is the fact that Cameron really does seem to think more about others than herself. It’s clear from the way she speaks about things. She doesn’t dote on what happened to her and what she went through, she’s more worried that someone else might go through the same thing.
“I’ve got a lot of compassion for people,” she told me when I pointed this out to her.
“Having that happen so young, I felt pain through that and seeing how the doctor system can work. They told my mum and dad that I wasn’t going to make it without saying “but by the way you can do reiki or acupuncture or eat certain foods that are really good for the liver. Even if the chemo isn’t working there are other things that you can do. It makes me sad to think of all the children or other people that don’t know that.
“That makes me sad and I hurt inside about that. Like with hynobirthing, it makes me sad that women are going through traumatic labours or babies are delivered in distress. Just anything that makes people sad, I feel it in my heart.”
Even just explaining the feeling Cameron appeared slightly exhausted, a glimmer of what it must be like having so much concern for others. But the sombre tone was gone in an instant and she was back to speaking about the new chapter in her life…preparing for motherhood and planning her career out for next year, evidence of her positive attitude and her bid to look to the future.
“I think everyone has a purpose here,” she told me as we were getting ready to say goodbye.
“I don’t know what mine is yet, whether it’s to be a singer, or simply to be a mother. I don’t know why I am here on this planet but I’m sure it’s for good things and I hope I can be an inspiration to others.”
