Science works, cancer can be treated

In my role as a patient advocate and founder of Project PINK BLUE, I get at least seven emails, ten WhatsApp messages and calls about cancer diagnosis, treatment or survivorship weekly. Hence, I spend a lot of time responding to these calls and messages. One of the most difficult part of these communication is the need to convince the cancer patients and their caregivers that cancer can be treated and that people survive cancer in Nigeria.

Some patients will tell me, I hear of “this place in Jos where they use this herb to clear the cancer”, others will say, “I heard that chemotherapy is a poison and that is worse than cancer itself” and some even say “I heard that it is a waste of time to try treating cancer because they will die… sometimes not even up to three years”. It’s always a struggle to deal with some of these issues especially when it has to do with years of survival or years of life after treatment.

This year, I got the patient advocacy opportunity to attend American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago, USA and was opportune to meet with two breast cancer survivors- Ginny and Kelly. I took pictures with both of them and I wanted to share to inspire our cancer patients in Nigeria. Now, let me share their stories.

Kelly Shanahan, from being a doctor (obstetrics and gynaecology) to being a patient. Dr Kelly Shanahan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, she had bilateral mastectomy (i.e., surgical removal of two breasts), and had her chemotherapy.

A few years later, the breast cancer started spreading to other organs of the body, that is called metastatic breast cancer (stage IV). In her words “I don’t even remember if we had dinner, for the scans showed that the back pain was due to a vertebra fractured by metastatic breast cancer and there were metastatic lesions from skull to femur and every bone in between. I had forgotten about cancer, but it hadn’t forgotten about me.” Since then, Kelly has become a global voice for access to clinical trials and advocacy for better treatment and research for people living stage IV breast cancer. Her mantra is “research, not ribbons”. Kelly is a wife, a mother, a daughter, a doctor, a woman LIVING with metastatic breast cancer and an advocate.

On the other, Ginny Mason, was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) in 1994. 
Her diagnosis came after almost four months of effort, and visits to numerous clinicians. She found that her health care providers wouldn’t take her seriously and insisted she was fine. In the breast cancer field, inflammatory breast cancer remains something of an anomaly. Because it can cause skin discoloration or rash as well as swelling but may not be accompanied by a lump, it doesn’t look like typical cancer and can be difficult to diagnose. Though aggressive, it makes up just 1-5 per cent of all breast cancers (as far as can be tracked, due to a lack of a pathological diagnosis). That means many people – including health care professionals – are unfamiliar with the disease. Ginny pushed and had her treatment and she is doing great. Since 1999, Ginny founded and led the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Foundation (IBCRF) as a platform to provide resources and support to people diagnosed with IBC. 

Ginny is now 30 years post treatment and Shanahan is now over 15 years post-treatment of breast cancer. I have known Ginny and Kelly for more than seven years now. As fellow advocates, we met at different conferences and always engage and speak for better and improved care. Ginny and Kelly have used their pains for the gain of our society. They speak up at every opportunity and have become the voices of change and better care and treatment for women diagnosed with breast cancer. I want to encourage every cancer patient in Nigeria to look up to these amazing ladies.

Hope and Believe. Science works, never believe all those other stories of this herb can clear cancer or that “juju” can cure cancer. Ginny and Shanahan are evidence that science works. Trust your doctors, adhere to the treatment, and you will see that cancer can be treated. Believe me, we still have phenomenal cancer doctors who are committing every single day of their life to the science of cancer in Nigeria. They may not have all innovative cancer treatment machines and medicines, but they have the passion and evidence that science works and that cancer can be treated.

Chidebe is a Patient Advocate and Executive Director, Project PINK BLUE.