By Asma Kundi
ISLAMABAD: Diagnosis of breast cancer is a nightmare for any woman, but for a mother, it is more terrifying to think about who will take care of her children if something happened to her.
Sumera Aslam was only 35 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and the world suddenly turned upside down for her. She felt a small bump in her right breast, which made her frightened as her mother was also a survivor of breast cancer. She discussed it with her husband and he told her that she was breastfeeding her two-year-old daughter so it might be due to the overproduction of milk.
One day she started feeling pain in her breast, therefore decided to go for a mammography. The result was positive that she was suffering from an acute form of breast cancer. “50 percent of your right breast is infected with cancer and it is acute therefore is spreading very fast,” these were words by the doctor, which shattered me completely, said Sumera.
“The first thought that gripped my mind was my children. So many questions were swirling in my mind like, who will look after them as they are very pampered and choosy about everything? My daughter is not toilet trained, who will take care of her? Who will cuddle them with love and affection like a mother?” shared Sumera while remembering that time.
Sumera has two children and due to timely diagnosis and treatment, she is cancer free now and living a happy life with her family. She shared that she has a family history of this chronic disease and therefore knew about the ups and downs of the treatment phase. “Now I am following all routine checkups because the sword of reoccurrence of this disease is continuously on my head,” feared Sumera.
“Everyone wants to live longer but when you are a mother, you want a long life for your children. I am taking care of myself wholeheartedly because I believe this is the best I can do for my kids, anyhow all things are in God’s hands,” she said with a helpless smile on her face.
On the other hand, 32-year-old Mehrunisa was expecting her first baby when she was diagnosed with cancer, this news shook her world. She was suffering from abdominal pain that was later diagnosed as cancer. She was so much in pain that one day she fainted, her doctor recommended aborting the baby to start proper treatment as the cancer was in the very initial stage.
Mehrunisa was a mother-to-be and couldn’t gather the courage to abort her baby. The brave mother shared with World Echo News, “There is no stronger feeling than the feeling of being a mother. This feeling defeated all other feelings of fear and death, therefore I decided to keep my pregnancy despite bearing the pain all along for nine months.” She delivered a healthy boy named Haroon and soon after her son’s birth her proper cancer treatment started.
After going through the painful treatment of chemo, radiation, and major surgery, finally, the tumor was removed and she was declared cancer free. Unfortunately, her happiness couldn’t last for long and after one-year cancer relapsed and she again has to go through the agony and pain she experienced earlier.
Currently, she is having extensive chemo and that means more pain, but through all her journey she has been positive and her morale is high. She said that my son is my strength and his thoughts and love never let me get tired of this battle. “I have taken a promise from my husband that if I lost my fight against cancer, he will marry my sister because no one else can take care of my child except her,” she said.
There are a large number of cases where women are suffering from cancer but children and support from family are the main reason that gives them strength to fight their battle against this deadly disease.
In Pakistan, female breast cancer incidence is the highest among all other malignancies, with a total of 25,928 cases reported nationally in 2020.
Pink Robbin Breast Cancer
According to Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Hospital, 109 women die every 24 hours due to breast cancer in Pakistan. Over 40,000 deaths a year with an addition of 90,000 new breast cancer cases annually is a matter of serious concern.
Although, timely diagnosis and proper treatment can increase the survival chances of breast cancer patients by up to 90 percent.
While talking to World Echo, Omer Aftab, CEO of Pink Robbin an NGO working on Breast cancer in Pakistan said that breast cancer is most prevalent in Pakistan as among every 100 cases 39 cases are of breast cancer. This ratio is increasing by 12 to 15 percent annually which is worrisome.
He said that the quality of food is the major cause of increasing cases of cancer in women as steroids, pesticides, and preservatives in food lead to hormonal imbalances in young girls and women, which in some cases cause cancer.
“Women’s health was never a priority in a patriarchal society; therefore, women avoid treatment and, in most cases, they hide their disease from family and relatives. I have witnessed that if a woman patient has family support and no financial issues the success rate is high in such cases,” he said.
He said that there is a need to change the mindset of society and provide free or inexpensive treatment in small towns and cities to counter this increasing number but unfortunately, in towns and villages, there are no Basic Health Units for normal diseases.
