BREAST CANCER : FIGHTING EVERY WOMAN ’ S NIGHTMARE ( CONTINUED ) things didn ’ t make sense to me . As I started asking questions and doing my investigations , I then learned that there were over 500 of us waiting for treatment and no working machine . This really upset me because I remembered the people who would come to radiotherapy who arrived in ambulances and wheel chairs , people who had tumors , people who by not having treatment meant their tumors would start growing and grow aggressively . And that ’ s when I started campaigning for the broken machines to be fixed . I was relentless . I phoned everyday ( social distancing and the risk to me didn ’ t allow me to go anywhere ) but it didn ’ t stop me . I went to twitter and I went to the media and finally arrangements were finalized and the machines were fixed .
One of the interesting things I found during this time was that when I googled “ broken radiotherapy machines ” the results I found included reports of the same situation in other African countries . It became apparent that this was not a situation unique to us in Zimbabwe and although it ’ s a story for a another day , its definitely food for thought .
It was so great to move my focus from my fears and pain and to work on something that would not only help me but would help so many people . That gave me strength and purpose and most importantly it felt good . Today I can proudly say that I have met many challenges in the last 15 months and I have managed to overcome them . It ’ s taken
a lot out of me and I wont lie , I feel exhausted but it ’ s a satisfying kind of tired . And the best news of all ? I am now officially in remission !! Yeah I BEAT CANCER !!!!!!
Now I want to give back . I want to do more for the Breast Cancer cause and part of that is I have joined a charity called Zimbabwe Breast Care Trust . The charity , started by Dr Noleen Mbuwayesango who , I met when she was doing a heart Echo for me ( checking out to see if my heart was doing well during treatment ) opened its doors just as the Breast Cancer Awareness month began . During our first meeting , it turned out that Dr Mbuyawesango was also going through treatment for breast cancer and this impressed me greatly ! I was barely able to do much physically and here was this woman still treating other people despite the challenges she was facing . We are currently working very hard to raise awareness , remind everyone to do their monthly breast self checks and go for their annual mammograms and scans . We have designed a poster that helps people keep track of their monthly checks by enabling the to note down the self check findings and have a comparison for the next one . Our charity will also continue some of the work that I have started such as looking for ways to reduce the cost of Breast Cancer treatments , raising money to help those who cant afford mammograms and treatment . I hope you can all support us . Please like our page on Facebook , Zimbabwe Breast Care Trust and visit our website www . zbct . co . zw .
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