Robin Muchetu Health and Gender Editor
“MINE was a bit of a journey from hell. There were a lot of things that happened in between and I was diagnosed with breast cancer just before the COVID-19 pandemic”.
For Mrs Cherylynn Young, a diagnosis just before the world went into lock down left her in despair as she had no idea how treatment for such a condition would be done given movement restrictions.
While many people are ‘surprised’ by a cancer diagnosis when they visit a doctor, Mrs Young had always been conscious of the possibility of cancer affecting her as it has always been running in her family, a reason enough for her to be conscious of it.
“It was in my family, so I used to get myself checked annually and because of that my maternal grandmother had a double mastectomy (total removal of the breast), but at different times,” she said.
“In 2018 I went in September and she did the usual test on me, the manual breast check.”
Nothing was found there but she decided to run some tests, an ultrasound scan in particular.
“I went for the ultrasound and the guy who was doing it said to me, ‘do you know you have a lump?’
Only with hindsight, I did not feel a lump at all over the years, there was nothing but a little bit of discomfort under my left arm. But it was not sore all the time and I ignored it, it was December 2018,” she said.
The doctor told her it needed further investigation and that is when the whole process of ups and downs started.
“It’s a process, if you’re not on medical aid, it’s a huge challenge too. That’s one of the things that concerns me that all these ladies we see in the public sector health system, have challenges with access to some services and tests. I was fortunate because we were on medical aid. But when you hear the rest of my story, you know, even that only helped me to a point,” she added.
A biopsy confirmed that it was breast cancer but some of the tests could not be done locally then and she had to get them done in South Africa at a cost and also a time-consuming process.
“But that is the basis of all treatments, they needed to pinpoint which one was mine. So, mine was generally the most common cancer, a ductal carcinoma and because it was caught early and it was contained. So, it had not spread,” said Mrs Young.
Back then, she said the only local option for her treatment that she was offered was a mastectomy, which means removing the breast.
“I was about 52 at the time and I didn’t want to lose my breast just for a lump especially as they said mine was caught early,” she said.
A local breast surgeon who had done the diagnosis then referred her to South Africa where the lump removal was to be done to save her breast.
“When you are given this kind of diagnosis it just, it knocks you. You’re literally like a fish out of water, you don’t know what to do and it is traumatic,” said Mrs Young.
Before the surgery was performed she faced a fair share of challenges, which added to her anxiety.
Despite having done several tests in Zimbabwe, and supplying the doctors in South Africa with results, they wanted to perform their own tests.
Convinced that her medical aid was going to pay for all the medical expenses for the surgery, she was informed that they were not able to cover the exorbitant price for the surgery, which had been quoted at R300 000. That dampened her mood and prospects of recovery but she was now in South Africa and had to make sure she gets some help.
Fortunately, at a government facility, she was offered surgery that was done pro bono- at no cost.
However, this meant a longer unplanned stay in South Africa, increasing her costs.
Mrs Young then had to return to Zimbabwe to start chemotherapy from June to November 2019.
Part of the treatment meant that she had to have chemo-port inserted in Harare as that was the only place doing it locally. The port allows for the chemotherapy to be administered.
There were special needles, which had to be brought from South Africa to enable chemotherapy to be done, a challenge many patients faced during their treatment as some consumables were not readily available then.
After chemotherapy, she started on radiation therapy in Harare for six weeks, daily, as the service was not available locally and during the Covid-19 pandemic things were difficult for those seeking to travel.
During that period the machines at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals broke down as they were overwhelmed with patients. At the same time, technicians were not able to fly into the country to repair the machines because of Covid-19, which further made the situation worse. However, Mrs
Young managed to return to Bulawayo to do the last sessions at Mpilo Central Hospital before that machine also broke down.
For her, getting treatment was a mission, from the costs, traveling outside the country, living with friends and family as she sought help away from home and this motivated her to join Leading Initiatives Fighting Cancer Together (Lift).
“It’s so much for a person to contend with, so such organisations help to improve the quality of life and survival of cancer patients by accomplishing its vision, which is to raise awareness, give comprehensive support to patients, survivors and caregivers of cancer in Southern Africa,” she said.
Following the treatment, Mrs Young goes for annual check-ups to ensure the cancer is not recurring. She is also grateful for the Government’s intervention in securing cancer machines that will change the face of treatment in Zimbabwe.
—@NyembeziMu
