Pink Month: Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Casablanca – Raja Battaoui Breast cancer is that incurable disease that scares women all over the world, it remains silent for so long then suddenly takes lives. Moroccan women see yearly 40 thousand new breast cancer cases, which threats the feminine symbol more than any other organ which scares the people of even saying its name and only imply to it.
In occasion of the international Day of Breast Cancer in October of every year, named the pink month, we open the file and go through examples of women who could fight back and keep living and creativity after defeating the disease with patience, belief and medical treatment.
Daily, about twenty women get breast cancer, and one of every nine women is as risk according to the statistics of Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer.
The number is subject to increase in case of late discovery, especially that breast cancer is the first on the list of the cancer types in women, which threatens about three million Moroccan women (according to Moroccan association of research and training in clinical oncology) followed by womb cancer, then lung cancer and then prostate cancer in men.
The disease takes the lives of women between 45 and 55 years old, according to Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer.
Women’s testimonies
Nehad who didn’t exceed the thirties got married about ten years ago. She married the man she loved and lived a life full of passion and hope, without any trouble. But as said, nothing remains the same forever.
Suddenly, she found herself in a struggle she never expected when one day while taking a shower she found a small round solid ball in her breast. She didn’t wait and her husband took her to the gynaecologist. She had routine tests for check up, but her husband hid the bad news from her.
When she noticed that her husband looked sad, she urged him to tell her the truth. When he did, she was shocked. She thought about the destiny of her relationship with her husband, and about his family that wouldn’t want her any more.
She felt weak, and was falling apart but thought that surrendering is weakness, and that only God decides life or death. She believed she only needs enough courage to fight the disease and keep her life, so despite all the moral and physical pain she decided to be positive, for herself and for her husband. She went through a series of analysis, chemotherapy and radiology.
Four years of treatment passed and Nehad still goes to the doctor. She said “I befriended the disease and lived with it, and I held on to every second of my life. No one believed I survived cancer.”
Another example is Magda. An employee who got breast cancer seven years ago and fought it with a strange insistence to life and challenge with the will to cure.
Despite going through mastectomy, and being bothered by the intensive treatment she had for years, she finally got over it and now she sees life differently.
Magda said she discovered a tumour in her breast that she thought was cancer. She found a specialist in gynaecology and had a mammography.
Her doctor told her she suspects breast cancer, which was then confirmed by a specialist in cancer - but the problem was that it was in a late stage.
She couldn’t accept the situation which was heavy news, then after a few days she told her husband and children, then her colleagues knew about it but she never told her family. She didn’t want their sympathy or pity, which would hurt her more than the disease itself.
She attended all the events and weddings elegantly. Even after chemotherapy and losing her hair she used a semi natural wig and cover with the makeup products what cancer ruined.
Magda said the experience wasn’t easy, but she stood up to death. Her love for her family was the biggest motivation to continue the treatment, even if it is morally tiring.
She depended on fruits and vegetables in her nutrition and avoided fats and meat, paying attention to her physical and mental fitness.
She learned silence and patience, and avoided questioning women with cancer who she met in the medical clinic so they wouldn’t pass her their frustration.
Magda advises all women to periodically check, medical and self check, before it’s too late.
She said the early discovery speeds up the cure and she advises women not to lose hope in case they discover it.
Nadia is a 26 year old house wife. After six months of her marriage to the man she loved, she visited the doctor to inquire about her late pregnancy. During the examination, the doctor discovereda tumour in her breast and asked for tests.
The tests proved it’s breast cancer, and instead of having a supportive husband he started treating her differently and refused to support her even morally and refused the treatment.
She discovered the truth about her husband who failed in the first test in life, and abandoned her at a time she really needed him. She got the divorce, and her mother paid for the treatment.
Nadia fought the disease with courage; especially that she discovered her disease early.
She believed that the human being should have the desire to heal in order to be cured, so she insisted on defeating cancer with patience, challenge and continuing the treatment.
Another woman, Khadiga, suffered breast cancer. She was cured because she had regular treatment after getting over the sense of fear or weakness. She worked and expressed herself in her paintings.
Khadiga was realistic when she told her story. She discovered her cancer during a routine check at the gynaecologist, brother of her friend. She had many negative thoughts for two days awaiting the results.
She said “I felt I was going to die soon, and started to recall all the women who died because of cancer, living the harsh moments of expectation.”
She received the news with calmness she never expected, even if she was preparing herself to die.
Suddenly, Khadiga felt she can defeat the disease with challenge and keeping high morals. She got herself together and went through all the treatment steps until she was asked to go through mastectomy; she thought she doesn’t need it.
After the surgery the consequences appeared and death symbol started to show in her paintings. Her paintings changed from having full beautiful bodies, to drawing bodies with missing organs or spread all over the painting, or drawing worms, thorns and death.
She decided to organise an exhibition she called sunset of death, then she used an old house in Fez to escape the circle of death surrounding her.
The place took her back to her childhood as the house was very similar to her grandfather’s house in Tetouan which resulted in the explosion of an artistic epic full of hope, love and optimism.
She realised that life is a beautiful chance where she should enjoy every shining moment so she decided to continue her path preparing more individual or group exhibitions in several Moroccan and international cities.
Khadiga said that after the surgery she didn’t want to replace her breast with silicon or use a supporter that takes the shape of the breast because she wanted people to accept her as she is, and she advised all women of early discovery and regular treatment in case of discovery.
Professor Abdel Latif Ben Eidar, head of the oncology centre of Ibn Rushd university hospital in Casablanca and member of the scientific council of Lalla Salma, said the increase in discovering the disease between women above 40 years was behind the association’s determination of benefiting women between 45 and 60 years old specially that these women don’t visit the doctor until late stages of the disease as it is among the silent diseases.
Among the main symptoms the formation of a swelling or a baggy part in the breast or underarm, accompanied with change in the size or shape or the roundness of the breast, in addition to nipple secretions (except for milk), and a change in the colour or the texture of the breast as well as change in the colour of the nipple or its protruding, or nipple inversion or change in the nipple’s skin or nipple pain.
Professor Ben Eidar said that several women don’t care about protrudes or tumours when they touch in their breasts considering them normal.
He explained that 90% of the breast cancer cases in Morocco can be treated if discovered in their early stages because of the availability of the medications and the availability of resources where some quantities could be given for free to women in need who are not covered by the insurance.
He added that the healing percentage varies between 90 and 100 % in case of early discovery and the treatment is more successful and less expensive, but unfortunately most of the cases are discovered in late stages and most probably surgery in the solution.
The professor said there aren’t any determined means of protection and there aren’t known reasons, still anxiety, exhaustion laziness, fatness and unhealthy food are help factors in the appearance of the disease in addition to genetic factors.
The minimizing factors of breast cancer are breastfeeding, regular sports, avoiding stress and healthy nutrition based on fish, vegetables and fruit.
Professor Ben Eidar said the disease’s risk lies in its threat to women between 38 and 45, where 21.3% of women with breast cancer are around 40 years old, and about one out of nine Moroccan women. The international statistics show that 78% of breast cancer cases are in women below 50 years old.
He advises all women to self check their breasts after each menstruation cycle, and with radiology every two years when above 40 years old to protect themselves, and should also pay attention to any change even if very simple like a small round ball in the breast or nipple secretions and immediately ask the gynaecologist.
Who is trying to enhance the battle against breast cancer within the framework of the national programmes against cancer and the integrated programmes for protection?
This is because of its report stating that more than two million women are yearly getting breast cancer.
Currently the organisation is working on a five years study to determine the results of the battle against breast cancer in ten low and medium income countries supported by Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The results of this project are expected to participate in making available data that could enable drafting appropriate policies for combating breast cancer in developing countries.
In the occasion of the World Cancer Day, US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that research showed that one third of the breast cancer deaths can be avoided through prevention, while another third can be avoided through early discovery and treatment.