The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
OCTOBER is set aside as the Breast Cancer Awareness month in a bid to educate and sensitise people about the disease that has claimed thousands of people in Zimbabwe and the world at large over the years.
But Mrs Debbie Mhlanga (53), from Bulawayo is a living example that the human body is able to fight off cancer if diagnosed and treated on time. What initially started off as a little lump in her left breast turned out to be a nightmare she never wants to relive. However, she is happy to have survived breast cancer and lives to tell the story.
“With me it all started opposite of what everybody said breast cancer would be like. As I said you do not feel much, there’s not much pain, there might be a lump, but for me it started with pain from the onset, that was in March 2018.
I had a sharp pain on my breast but it disappeared and I had no lump there. Towards the end of 2018 the pain came back and this time there was a lump. In 2019 I alerted my doctor at that time, I was seeing a surgeon for a stomach issue and I told him that I had this problem,” she said.
Fortunately, her doctor did not take it lightly and went on to do further tests. She went for a mammogram and other scans to determine what it was.
“Unfortunately, the radiographer could not pick up anything from the scan so we had to wait a little longer and, in the meantime, it was growing and it was extremely painful. By June 2019 the doctor decided to do a biopsy and, in that biopsy, we got results that definitely confirmed I had breast cancer and I had two lumps already in the breast. One was at stage three of cancer already and one was on the level of turning,” she said.
She was then operated on to remove the cancerous lumps and the breast.
“I went and had my breast removed, a mastectomy in July 2019 and it was much more severe than we expected it to be, I started treatment, chemotherapy after the operation. I have also had radiation; I developed a complication called Deep Vein Thrombosis which is the clotting of the blood. So, on top of that I had to be put on medication to thin the blood,” said Mrs Mhlanga.
She said life has changed a lot since she got to know she had cancer.
“I was working and now I am not because my healing progress has been very slow, I suffered more setbacks than I expected or anybody expected.
“Maybe it is age, I do not know. I have learnt to be patient with myself and humble myself. I have also accepted what I can do today and what I am unable to do the next day. I have also learnt to accept asking for help from my family and friends, getting into the bathtub, to do daily chores as there are things I am unable to do by myself,” she said.
Looking at treatment for cancer locally, she said access was there despite high costs that are associated with it, she was treated at Mpilo Central Hospital. Before she commenced treatment, she shaved off her hair as she did not want to feel the trauma associated with losing hair but it has since grown back despite being thinner than before. Mrs Mhlanga said life without a breast needed acceptance.
“The healing of the scar takes time, even when it has healed on the outside, it still has pain on the inside, a lot of nerves will have been affected and sometimes you can still feel there was a breast there. Generally, I have not let it worry me that much, I have more or less accommodated it. I elected not to have reconstructive surgery, it is possible for women who want to feel that there is a breast there, that they are still complete but for me it was not a big deal.
The amount of pain it gave me, I just wanted it removed and this helps me in my campaign to talk to women when it is not there, that it is actual proof of what I am talking about,” added Mrs Mhlanga.
Calls to have a cancer levy have been made looking at the numbers of deaths experienced in Zimbabwe which have surpassed HIV and Aids deaths, a move Mrs Mhlanga said is most welcome.
“I really wish that could come up, I feel for the people who are less fortunate in rural areas and do not have access to medication or begin treatment. They have to sell a chicken to be able to be on a bus and come to Bulawayo for treatment, so definitely there should be a cancer fund set up,” she said.
She said men and women must know that cancer is not a death sentence and people must not feel defeated by the disease as one can lead a normal life even after diagnosis.
Mrs Mhlanga also paid tribute to her husband Ndabezinhle, two sons, family and friends who have walked with her on her journey saying having a good support structure assisted in her healing process.
Radiation has been the biggest challenge for many in Zimbabwe but she said it was solely because of the on and off functioning of the machines.
She encouraged women to get screened for all types of cancers and seek help on time so that they do not present themselves to health institutions with advanced cancer.
Mrs Mhlanga said some types of breast cancers, if detected soon enough, do not result in breasts being removed.
Mrs Mhlanga said she is still on treatment as she is still being monitored by her oncologist to see how she is responding two years after diagnosis and eventually removing the cancerous breast._@NyembeziMu
