Cancer: ‘ Nigerian medical workers can contribute to its growth’

 I tell you, you wouldn’t know the impact of receiving a report of cancer until you have received it or your loved one has just been told she has cancer. And, to many people, that report is death sentence! In her case, it became death sentence. But the truth is that it does not have […]

 I tell you, you wouldn’t know the impact of receiving a report of cancer until you have received it or your loved one has just been told she has cancer. And, to many people, that report is death sentence! In her case, it became death sentence. But the truth is that it does not have to be because so many people are surviving it. It is a dreadful disease, but many are surviving it. The message is prevention and early detection and effective treatment. And when that fails, palliative measures. When cancer is diagnosed too late, how do you make the person comfortable enough to pass through it. Like my mum, after she was diagnosed and the race to save her life started, what I discovered was that cancer was not just a physical disease; it does not just affect your body. It affects your mind. I see it as an emotional disease. Cancer patients dictate the tone in the house. At that time, if my mother was happy, we were happy. The day she laughed, we laughed. Refreshment came any day she was strong enough to walk around freely. And, for us, a woman who lost her husband when she was 40, and had to raise her children alone, that was heartbreaking. Not because it cost us so much money (it cost us £6,000 and £8,000 every six weeks to keep her alive). That is, a woman we thought we could spoil at her old age, but instead we were paying for drugs to make her as comfortable as she could be, living with cancer. But before she died, she encouraged us to do something for other people, by talking about it and creating the awareness, believing that someday, someone might listen.

 You talked about the amount you spent on drugs to help your mum, was it for curative or what?

Yes it was. First, after the lump was removed, all the doctors involved in her case said the next line of action was to remove the breast. So, her breast was removed and she had to go through the radiotherapy and it cost money, especially if you want the high range, though they had the low, medium and high range treatments.

I think in acknowledging those that survived cancer, we should also acknowledge the care-givers. I went through mental torture, each time I felt pain in my breast, I thought it was a lump so I constantly pressed my breast to check for lumps. I became paranoid about it. This was beyond normal because I was traumatized. It is not an easy thing for anyone to face. I think it is the worst thing anyone can have – more than HIV.  People are walking about with HIV/AIDS. It is controllable, if they take their drugs. But cancer is one disease I will not want to wish my enemy.

Have you had cases of people that have been cured?

Yes. We have those who have survived for different kinds of cancer. And they give hope to others. The summit I am going for in Dublin is organized by Lance Armstrong, the cyclist who survived cancer. So, apart from surviving it, he wants to push the agenda forward. He wants the G-8 leaders to look at cancer as a national priority so that more funds could be voted into cancer research. Until that is done, a complete cure will probably be difficult. Cervical cancer is 100% treatable, if detected early, because a simple test can tell you if you have the cancer and afterward go for treatment.

Why is cancer becoming prevalent in our society today?

 That is the reason we must pay attention to advocacy and research to know if we are eating the right kinds of food or see if we are exposed to the sun, chemicals and pollutions in excess. This is one disease that does not have one particular cause. There are so many risk factors – it could be genetic or as a result of wrong diets. I believe you are what you eat. May be, if we eat the right food and we engage in exercises, maybe we can cut it by half. I think moderation in everything you do will help.  Perhaps, with the International Cancer Centre Abuja (ICCA) this will help.

 Do you think our hospitals have enough equipment to detect cancer?

Some hospitals do, not all of them. And for some of them, the machines don’t work. For the ICCA to be able to work effectively, all the supporting hospital must work to help in diagnosis so they will not put pressure on ICCA. And also the supporting hospitals, who will be referring people to this centre, must be working to first. The exciting thing for me is that we are talking cancer and we are doing something about it. Many NGOs are talking to people about it, making people aware of the symptoms which are very important also. When we go for rural campaigns and screening we find people that treat lumps as boils because they do not know. They go to some local dealers who try to open the lumps and treat them with palm oil. And, for some people, they have an attitudinal problem towards cancer, they don’t want to talk about it.

The biggest problem I have come to see in this work is misdiagnosis, which is so dangerous. One can be treating something else when it should treating cancer.  Now, who do you blame in this case? Sometimes, it is not the doctor’s fault because the machines don’t work. We have competent and committed doctors who are frustrated because they don’t have equipment to work with. And effective drugs are very expensive and most people can’t afford them. Also, you have those who interpret the result from these machines, they are very important. All these laboratory scientists and oncologists need to be trained properly. If you have someone who can’t see cancer even when it is there, then that is a problem. That tells me that even early detection can still kill a patient if they are dealing with the wrong personnel. And, I have seen people die of cancer when they would have survived if it was detected early.  Just after the launching of the cancer centre recently, one of the doctors who consults for EGO Bakee foundation called me up and said, you know, the guy I was treating just passed on. Why?  The person was rushed to him few months before his death. He had lung cancer and nobody saw it.  And he was being treated for tuberculosis until he was taken to this doctor friend who found out it was cancer, and that time it was late. The more you misinterpret cancer, they more it has time to spread around without any remission.

How do people contact EGO Bakee foundation, is it during your awareness campaigns?

We go to schools, religious places, women organizations, Local Government areas and our radio programme called Cancer Today?

Cancer Today was a phone-in programme that people called in and ask questions. It is off-air now. Also, we have held countless numbers of workshops and also printed handbills that educate people about the disease cancer. And people contact us through email and telephones. And we go for screening as well.

Who funds your organization?

We have never done a fundraising. We are a group of friends who are committed to helping cancer patients. The worst thing a cancer patient can face is that he doesn’t have money to treat himself. So our foundation come together to help some cancer patients. But the foundation was not formed for that. It was formed for advocacy, pushing for a legislation, hopefully, that would help make cancer screening free, and more subsidized treatment that way more people will be interested in going for screening, and to do public education and awareness to the public.

 What sort of training did you receive?

 I hold three degrees. One in History from the University of Lagos. Another, a Masters in Political Science and, thirdly, a Law degree from the University of London.   My children are grown up, they are not kids any longer. The eldest is 25 and youngest 13. They are supportive because they saw their grandmother suffer.