Cancer: The world awaits a cure (ii)
By Olatunji Lateef
My prayers for a quick, less painful, very effective solution to cancer may not be farfetched as I just lost an aunt, who was a mother to all those who knew her to this deadly disease. I was quite perturbed from the very first day when I heard she was diagnosed of having cancer of the breast, the top cancer in women both in developed and developing world, from WHO statistics; I knew her days on earth were numbered.
From that moment, my thoughts began to oscillate between fear and hope. I had more fears than hope because I understood what it means to be in such condition and survive and also because of the known poor health system that we operate in this country. Moreover, I could sense the innocence of my aunt because she didn’t really know what she was into. So even after the first successful surgery, I still nursed my fear.
She was wont to ask me: “Lateef, am I going to survive this cancer.”
“Yes ma, you will survive insha Allah.” I replied as I quickly wear a cheerful face to give such replies anytime asked.
Most times, I frame up stories of people in very difficult health situations that still survived just to liven up her spirit, keep her from thinking about it. But all of that did not stop the cancer from weakening her further. It continued to make her weaker by the day.
And finally it seized her breath. It made her last five days traumatizing, reeling in excruciating pains, as doctors tried to aid her breath with oxygen. Her heart worked very hard until it got weak and tired of pumping blood round her body. Eventually, on that fateful night of 2nd June 2013, it needed to rest and she gave up.
Numerous cases of the effects of cancer like this one abound now, known only to people directly affected or those who cater for their patients at the hospitals. Many seat helplessly as they watched their loved ones pass away without much they could do to help.
The present drugs available are only given as trials without much conviction that they would cure cancer. It is therefore very important now more than ever before to get a cure for cancer before it becomes endemic. The world earnestly awaits that cure.
Lateef sent this piece from Lagos
