Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu is the wife of Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN). She is also the founder of Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN). She spoke with reporters in Akure on her advocacy programme on breast cancer treatment and other salient issues. DAMISI OJO was there.
What actually informed the birth of BRECAN and how far you have gone on its advocacy?
I am a breast cancer survivor of 20 years now and still counting. It all started in 1997 when I was diagnosed with it.
I never knew anyone who had that experience except the little information I got from Cable TV then, Midlands, CNN, Skynews. It was not something we were familiar with. Very little was reported in the media. On that fateful morning when I felt something in my breast, of course, my mind raced to breast cancer because I knew where such disease was located. I was scared, not knowing what to do. It happened while I was resting at home during my annual leave.
I was thinking that if this happened to be breast cancer, what was I going to do at that age? I was 42 or 43 years and I had little children. What would become of my children? I kept it to myself for almost one week as I didn’t know what to do.
My baby was just four or thereabout. So, I just tuned to television that morning and heard that “this programme could save your life”.Immediately I heard that, I just raised myself from the pillow and now sat and was wondering what could this be? And it happened to be about breast cancer survivors’ journey. That kind of coincidence, I don’t know. It was what was meant to be, and it really saved my life.
There was this white woman on the Rolando Show, and it was her journey through breast cancer diagnosis, and she happened to be the mother of popular Hollywood actors, the Baldwin Brothers. They are very popular in Hollywood. She went through the treatment and then she could call herself a survivor and was sharing her experience for the whole world to listen.
She used the chronicle of her journey to lift the spirits of those that were undergoing such experience, and I benefitted from it. How? After listening to the programme, I quickly summoned courage to go to the hospital.
I said whatever this woman did, I would be like her. It was after the examination by the doctor, who again confirmed that there was a lump. But even at that stage, he didn’t know what it was
. I want to quickly emphasise something at this juncture: it is part of awareness campaign.
When women notice a lump, they don’t know what that lump is until you see a doctor and he would recommend a test. It is after that test you now know whether what you have is a cancerous lump or a benign lump.
We got to know that there are two types of lump: the benign one, which is not cancerous, and the cancerous one. But you never can tell the cancerous one until a test is conducted.
It is very important. When I told my husband, he was scared, but he didn’t know that I had been fortified by that television I watched, and that was it. I think he must have wondered where I gathered the strength from, because I was on my feet and already prepared that whatever that woman did, I was going to do and get well.
From then, my treatment commenced. The next thing, what is the next line of treatment? That would be mastectomy. By then, breast health care was at the rudimentary level in 1997. So, it was still the same radical mastectomy; total removal of the breast. I said remove the damn thing if that is what will make me live, and we did that. The rest is history.
What message does your courage to survive the disease portend? Like I always tell women, surviving breast cancer is all about attitude. Losing a breast, it can be very difficult for some women. Immediately they are told they are going to lose their breasts, they are already gone.
They are consumed with the thought that their husband would marry another woman who has two breasts.
The thought of losing your husband should not be on the radar. They should be more concerned about surviving for the sake of their children.
They must do everything to live and take care of the children because they could not tell the character of the woman that would be married to take care of their children after their death. So when women reject mastectomy and run to a pastor who will be giving them holy water or Jerusalem oil to rub because they don’t want to lose their breasts, and at the end of the day, they come back with decayed breast, which one will anyone choose? Is it not better you lose your breasts, live and be well for your children and husband than you are pre-occupied that your husband will leave you and marry someone else? You have to live before you talk about enjoying marriage.
One comes before the other. Being one-breasted does not really define you. Like I told a
woman, when your husband saw you, he never saw your nakedness.
Even after mastectomy, you can still have a baby. You can breastfeed with one breast. But you must be alive to do this. So, I had successful treatment and everything done by UCH. I didn’t go anywhere.
That also brings us to the point that the country doesn’t know what they have because we have everything to make this country great. I think those that are taking the decisions are the ones that are not thinking highly of what this nation can be.
When I had my surgery, there was petrol scarcity.
We bought fuel in a jerry-can and went to my consultant to give him to use because I needed to get rid of this thing. I was lucky mine was found at stage one. It took me one week and I went to the hospital.
There were some other women, because it was not painful, they just carried on, not knowing that they had a bomb in them waiting for explosion. Unfortunately, over 80 per cent of late stages of breast cancer is what we see in the hospital nationwide. Awareness during pink October is not enough. There is need for structured and sustained awareness for our women to understand the behaviour of this disease. If you don’t explain to them, they will keep thinking it is juju and spiritual attack. It is when you have a robust awareness campaign and consistency too, like what was done to HIV/AIDS. I think we should bring breast cancer to that level and keep talking about it.
A woman must be familiar with her breasts. If they are not familiar with how their breasts look like or feel like, there is no way they can notice any unusual change. When you tell our women to do this, they will tell you God forbid or they are covered by the blood of Jesus, they are daughters of Zion. We must figure how we explain it to our women, especially those who are not highly literate. We should bring it down to our people.
We need to bring it down to our people so that they don’t have to waste their time at praying mountains. Science is science. We can still break it down to the language they understand. In China today, everything is expressed in Chinese; the same thing with most of these Asian countries. They have advanced in everything, technology and so on, within the context of their culture, including language.
The science that is being taught in English Language, they brought it down to their local languages. Nobody should think that breaking down science in our local languages is difficult. It is a matter of political will so that people will understand what is going on and take advantage of knowledge. That is why people like us who survived and are still living normal, productive life, there is need to put our faces on breast cancer so that people know that they can survive it. It is not a death sentence.
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