Accra, Oct.15, GNA – A breast cancer Survivor, Hajia Zeinab Mohammed Saani, says persons affected with breast cancer and undergoing treatment need support and care from their spouses and families to heal and survive.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after a “Duala Medical Center” Breast Cancer Awareness Launch and Health Talk in Accra, she said, supporting a spouse, particularly a wife with breast cancer would enhance recovery and ease suffering.
“When I first told him about the signs I had noticed about my breast, he advised that I go to the hospital, and stood by me, encouraged me, and even prayed with me before undergoing surgery to remove one of my breasts and ovaries during my treatment at Korle-Bu, ” the Survivor told the GNA, full of praise for her husband.
She said breast cancer was not a spiritual illness as portrayed by some people and urged women not to link the condition to superstition.
“Earlier, people talked to me about stigma that others have gone through but watching television and seeing other survivors showing their bare chest and faces, trying to help others out, I felt if I have been saved then, I should come out and help educate to save more lives.”
The Chief Nursing officer in charge of Clinical, 37 Military Hospital, Colonel Patience Owusu Aidoo, bemoaned how cases were on the rise.
She mentioned how over 4500 cases were recorded in Ghana annually due to obesity, abuse of alcohol and tobacco, family genetic history, excessive exposure to radiation, amongst others.
She said about 40 percent of victims died due to delays and reluctance in seeking medical help.
The poor attitude to seek treatment, she explained had been made worse by stigma, low education and awareness.
“It is advised that one desists from looking for help from prayer camps and herbalists instead of visiting the hospitals for medical attention.”
She advised all, particularly females, to eat well, exercise, screen the breast yearly, and desist from lifestyles that put them at risk.
Breast cancer is a disease in which cells in the breast grow out of control. It can spread outside the breast through blood vessels and lymph vessels.
Symptoms of the condition are breast lumps or thickening, alteration in size, shape or appearance of a breast, dimpling, redness, pitting or other alteration in the skin, change in nipple appearance or alteration in the skin surrounding the nipple and/or abnormal nipple discharge.
According to the World Health Organisation, it is the most common type of cancer found in all countries of the world and killed 685,000 women in 2020 out of a total global case of 2.3 million.
More than 180, 000 of those cases were recorded in Africa.
The disease, per data released by the International Agency for Research into Cancer, may rise to more than three million cases by the year 2040.
GNA