Joyce Namubiru (48), was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. She is a living testimony, having fought the battle against the non-communicable disease.
She has told the Observer, a tri-weekly Newspaper in Uganda that she cannot forget the harrowing process of discovering she had the dreaded disease that could also easily mean death was nigh.
Breast cancer is a cancerous tumour which occurs in the breast(s). It is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk.
The nightmare for Namubiru begun when a lump in her breast thought to be nothing, turned dreadful.
“I went to the hospital and the nurse told me I should not worry; it was possibly not cancer because the breast was not painful.” She told the Observer.
However, after a month, the discomfort continued and she did not have any other option but to seek further medical help.
This is when Namubiru, a teacher by profession questioned the love of God.
“I had a biopsy, which revealed the breast cancer diagnosis. I could not believe what the doctor told me; deep inside I was melting. I asked myself a thousand questions like, ‘why me?’ ‘It is not true’, ‘what have I done to God to reward me with such?’ I cried myself to sleep daily,” She says.
“I was totally shocked and rocked to the core; it was hard for me to take in something that grave. We do not have history of cancer in our family and I am always healthy. What the doctor was telling me was not adding up.”
“My children saw me at my worst moments. They saw my physical, social and mental changes -that is one thing no mother wants her children to experience.”
Namubiru was instructed to go to Uganda Cancer Institute, and after seeing her results, he started a treatment plan.
The first part of treatment involved surgery (mastectomy) to remove the cancer-stricken breast.
“I then started chemotherapy, which consisted of six sessions, one every three weeks.”
Namubiru also started radiotherapy of one session each day for 25 days and “I always went back for review”. The reviews showed that she was beating the cancer by all definitions.
But that was not all; after some time she was started on hormonal therapy, taking one tablet daily for five years – “the good news is that I will be completing the dose in October this year”.
“During the course of treatment, my physical appearance changed; I felt weak and tired all the time. My nails darkened, I lost my hair and my immunity was really low and kept on getting other infections,” she says, but she is nonetheless thankful for overcoming a disease many succumb to.
“My life changed a lot. I do not take any day for granted. My relationship with God became stronger and I live a healthy, stress-free life. Many people have died; who am I to survive cancer? This is my fifth year,” she says.
