The Sunday News
Nkosilesisa Ncube, Sunday Life Reporter
A POPULAR quote reads, “What cancer cannot do. Cancer is so limited. It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot destroy peace. It cannot kill friendship. It cannot suppress memories. It cannot silence courage. It cannot invade the soul. It cannot steal eternal life. It cannot conquer the spirit.”
And true to this, Nobuhle Ntaisi who lost her mother to breast cancer says the dreaded disease never killed her mother’s spirit.
“To her last day, my mother was a fighter. She did everything she used to do, just without the same strength. You could tell she was in pain but she would light up around people. She never lost her sense of humour and she approached life with the same spark for it that she had always had,” says Ntaisi.
In spite of the brave front that Constance Tshaka, Ntaisi’s mother was putting up, physically she was not doing as well as she would have had people believe.
Tshaka was diagnosed with breast cancer after discovering a lump in her breast. Naturally she brushed it aside at first but as the lump grew, she began to worry and decided to see a doctor who confirmed that it was indeed breast cancer.
“She went to South Africa where she received both radiation and chemotherapy and had a mastectomy and while the treatment took a toll on her weight, we were grateful when she was declared cancer free in 2013. All was good until she fell sick in 2015. She had a cold in February and lost her voice. We thought it was just a common cold but months down the line, she still had no voice and doctors confirmed that the cancer was back and had spread to other parts of her body. From there everything just went downhill. She lost her appetite, lost strength, spent her days in bed, could not walk and so used a crutch, but she was still fighting until she eventually died.” Ntaisi said.
Moving on from the loss has been a trying ordeal for the family although they try to find comfort in the belief that Tshaka is finally at peace and in a better place than she was in.
Ntaisi said having her family members around her has also helped in easing the pain of the loss of her mother although at times she feels lost without maternal guidance.
“Living without her is difficult; it’s not something that one gets used to. My mum was my best friend and sometimes there are things that happen and I wish I could pick up the phone and tell her about them, and then I remember she is not here anymore. At other times, I wonder what she would say about some situations. Her death was such a blow to the family. In a strangely comforting way, her departure brought the family together.”
Taking her mother’s struggle with breast cancer as a lesson, Ntaisi urged women all over to get checked regularly for breast cancer.
“It is important for women to always get checked because it is very crucial and the minute you suspect something is wrong, have a doctor look at it before it is too late and for families dealing with breast cancer or any other cancer for that matter; I suggest you give the patient the emotional support that they need. Let them know that they are loved and cared for,” Ntaisi said.
Ntaisi’s mother was one of 1,7 million women who are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, making breast cancer the most common cancer in women worldwide. Although there is no known cure for the disease as yet, if detected early, it is manageable through surgery or therapy.
It is therefore advisable that the public take the month of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month to educate themselves on breast cancer and how to prevent it where possible and how to manage it if already diagnosed.
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