OCTOBER – BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

By Ben Kangwa

I recently missed my usual Sunday Catholic Mass. The reason was simple – a very close friend had invited me to attend Service at a nearby African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME). This was the second time I found myself at an African American AME church, worshipping with the “brothers and sisters”

First Lady Dr. Christine Kaseba officiating at the observance

of Cancer Month at Hotel Edinburgh in Kitwe in October, 2011.

Seated immediate left in red dress is Doreen Mwenya Grant

The first time was way back in December 2008 at the Convention Center in North Charleston, South Carolina where the African Methodist Episcopal Church had convened to invest and consecrate a good friend and brother Bishop Paul Kawimbe as president of the Global Council of Bishops.

I was one of the one thousand attendees that had gathered to witness this remarkable international event.

On this recent particular Sunday, at  this particular church, the “brothers and sisters” had been politely asked (the previous week) to attend Service dressed in  basketball, football and baseball jerseys of their favourite team….and boy, they did!

From Lakers, Clippers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks to Redskins, NY Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Bears, Giants, the Cardinals, Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals, 49ers and Houston Rockets just to mention a few.

 The Pastor, Ministers, the men’s church choir, the band, were all dressed up for games, except for the men ushers who wore black suits, a matching black tie, black shoes and white shirts and each one of them with  a white glove on the right hand.

Had I had been privy to this information much earlier, I would not have been as “smart casual” as I was, and would have instead won my Chipolopolo T-shirt since Zambia had won a penalty shoot-out over Uganda the previous day to qualify for a chance to defend the African Nations Cup title in South Africa next year.

The theme of the sermon was entitled “Game Over”. The Pastor went on to tell a story about King Nebuchadnezzar and three faithful men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. By the time he had finished telling the story and by the time he had zeroed in on the moral of story, he told his congregants to exclusively serve their God alone in order to be delivered from harm’s way. He cleverly concluded his preaching by talking about the issue of breast cancer and how it had affected the African American community. He asked if there were any members of the church who were or had survived the disease.

I was amazed to see a big number of both men and women stand up raising their hands high in this huge mega church which seats over a thousand people.

Right there and then I had a revelation – a story idea to be precise! After the Service I would put my thoughts together and compile a feature on the Observance of October as Cancer Month in Zambia.

After the service the same afternoon, lady luck was on my side, I read a story in the press about our Vice President’s wife, Dr. Charlotte Scott officiating at the Zambia Cancer Society 2^nd Annual Relay for Life at the Olympic Youth Development Center in Lusaka.

According to the story, Dr. Scott had urged Zambians to unite and fight the Cancer disease in children. She was quoted as saying she was sad to see children in the cancer wards at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) facing each day with pain and little hope because of the many challenges that the disease came with.

Dr. Scott, a medical doctor by profession, had noted the significant impact that the disease has on the children and their caregivers socially, emotionally, spiritually and financially.

As I sat at my residence wondering whether there was activity towards observance of Cancer month in Zambia, a quick thought crossed my mind. I phoned Dr. Kennedy Lishimpi, the Executive Director at the Cancer Disease Hospital (CDH) and asked him what activities had been lined up as part of the breast cancer awareness month in Zambia. He stated that a lot of had been lined up.

These included dissemination of breast cancer information on public and private radio and television stations and the printing of information leaflets on breast, prostate and cervical cancer  that were being distributed to the general public.

According to Dr. Lishimpi, the hospital was also carrying out free mammograms on Saturdays and Sundays.

He added, “We are also training radiographers in mammography from the provincial hospitals. Additionally, we have an outreach team that has gone to four rural locations in Zambia to teach the lower level medical workers and communities about Self Breast Examination (SBE) and Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) to encourage early detection.”

I had a couple of questions to put across to Dr. Lishimpi regarding care about cancer and all its myth. I first wanted him to explain to me what, in simple terms, breast cancer is? His answer was quick to the point.

“Cancer is a disease which is caused by normal cells becoming abnormal and growing out of control. It can occur in every organ of your body and if it occurs in the breast, it is called Breast Cancer,” he said.

He went on to explain that cells growing fast form a mass called tumor and that not all tumors are cancers. Some are benign or not cancerous. The cancerous ones are also known as malignant because they can spread to other parts of the body.

As he finished explaining, I asked him how one could detect symptoms of Breast Cancer. “That is a good one,” he said,” Early stages of Breast Cancer may not show any symptoms or signs. As it grows, symptoms may include a new lump or mass in the breast. Changes in the skin, size or shape of the breast, discharge from the nipple not associated with breast feeding, flaky, red or swollen skin on the breast, a nipple that starts discharging blood or is very tender, unexplained pain in the breast or nipple that does not go away.”

Wow! I said to myself. So who gets Breast Cancer? “All women are at risk but more so those above the age of 40 years. There are also certain factors which affect the risk of developing breast cancer such as early onset of menstruation, delayed first child birth or never having given birth. Some of these, one cannot do anything to change, but there are others that one can influence, he explained.

My next question which fell in place was then to find out if the general public in Zambia understood and appreciated a mammogram? What exactly is mammogram?

He said, “A mammogram is a low dose x-ray picture of the breast that is able to detect small changes or lumps which are too small or too deep to be felt by a patient. They are safe, quick and may just be mildly uncomfortable due to the fact that the breasts will be squeezed between two plates of the machine. The squeeze is important to flatten the breast tissue and to give a good reading.

In Zambia today, we are fortunate to have had installed eleven (11) static mammography units – one at the Cancer Disease Hospital and the rest are each in the ten Provincial hospitals.”

As we wound up the conversation, I asked Dr. Lishimpi to spell out tips for a better mammogram. He advised that when one goes for the mammogram, they should make sure they wipe off any powder, cream or deodorant from under their arms and their breasts as these may interfere with the mammogram.

They should drink sufficient water to keep well hydrated before the exam. If their breasts get tender during monthly period, then the best time to have a mammogram done may be a week after the period ends.

“Let the doctor know of any symptoms or problems before the exam. If your last mammogram was done at a different place or you have a copy of your previous mammograms, then take them with you so that the new one could be compared to the previous ones.

The conversation with Dr. Lishimpi had gone down pretty well. At least I was exposed to what breast cancer was all about.

Next, I phoned a friend Doreen Mwenya Grant based in Florida. She has been a breast cancer survivor for the last six years. After our pleasantries, I asked her what it has been like since 2006.

She responded”What I have learnt over the years is that the will to live is an act of courage all by itself. Getting out of bed when my body was paralyzed with fear, giving my husband a hug when I knew he was even more scared than I was, reassuring my children that I will fight to live for as long as I can, even when an inner voice was telling me otherwise, pretending to be a supermom, super woman, super wife and super executive of our company – when the cells in my body were dying from “chemo” and radiation and my body was completely depleted of energy, I can’t help but look back and smile while I celebrate the beauty of survival.”

Indeed, a celebration of the beauty of survival. When breast cancer is discovered late, t may have spread to other parts of the body and the cancer cells strangle the other cells in other organs or parts of the body, causing a lot of pain.

It is not a pleasant situation to be in. It is a painful death. To avoid all this and have your piece of mind, get a mammogram done. There are several health facilities in each of the ten Provincial hospitals in Zambia.

The writer is Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the Republic of Zambia in Washington DC