Tuesday, March 29, 2016

How to fight breast cancer


I didn’t think much about breast cancer until last year when a close relative (43/44 years old) who was living a remarkably happy and healthy life was suddenly asked by her family doctor for further investigations to confirm whether she had breast cancer. The news sent out a shock wave across the family and everyone was so disturbed that what happened suddenly. A happy family with a routine life was suddenly faced with an uphill task of visiting Lahore almost every week initially for the investigations and then when it was confirmed, for the treatment. A heart attack to the husband during these disturbing days was linked to the diagnosis of the wife with breast cancer by everyone in the family.

It was almost a yearlong painful and exhaustive exercise not only for the patient but also for the entire family. “The cancer patient isn’t the only one with cancer. The family has cancer, too,” Everything was disturbed back home from the financial aspects of the family to the burden to take care of the patient, travel to Lahore from Mardan regularly, stay at hotels, respond to the questions from family and friends largely unaware about breast cancer and how to deal with it. This case was an ordeal for the patient as well as her entire family and drained them of huge financial resources and savings and pushed them from a stable financial position into debts.

I read that “All women age 40 and older are at risk for breast cancer, though most breast cancers occur in women over the age of 50. Some risk factors for breast cancer are avoidable. Taking birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy; not breast-feeding after having a child, having two to five alcoholic drinks a day, being overweight, and not exercising all increase the risk for breast cancer”. The most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A mass that is painless, hard, and has irregular edges is more likely to be cancerous, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or rounded and can even be painful. Other possible signs of breast cancer include: Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no distinct lump is felt); Skin irritation or dimpling; Breast or nipple pain; Nipple retraction (turning inward); Redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin; A nipple discharge other than breast milk. Although any of these symptoms can be caused by things other than breast cancer, if one has them, they should be reported to doctor so that she can find the cause.

While having a look at the awareness raising initiatives by the ‘Pink Ribbon’ NGO I was pleasantly surprised that someone has already started working on creating awareness about this killer disease. The month of October has been dedicated to create awareness about breast cancer and a number of events take place during the month in Pakistan as well. There is however, a need to focus more to be able to create widespread awareness and protect lives. As mentioned in October 6 editorial of this paper, “It (Breast Cancer) is the most frequent malignancy to occur in women and accounts for 38.5 per cent of all cancers in women with a staggering 90,000 new cases every year, and as many as 40,000 deaths. Out of local cases, 43.7 per cent are judged to be ‘advanced’ — a total that could be significantly reduced with timely intervention”.

The statistics above are a grim reminder of the fact that it is high time that breast cancer is taken seriously and organizations like Pink Ribbon are supported. This is also crucial that besides a handful of NGOs and health professionals, the civil society at large, the parliamentarians, particularly female, the print and electronic media and people from all walks of life join hands to effectively respond to the deadly disease and to be able to protect more lives. Similarly, I could not found if there is any organized programme being run either by the federal or any of the provincial governments about a disease which is affecting such a large number of the population and which have so many long lasting effects. I think it will be good if people like Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Reham Khan, Asefa Bhutto Zardari and Bushra Gohar with many more leading female social and political figures start speaking about the disease and focus on prioritizing it on the agenda of the federal and provincial governments. With my little awareness of the subject I am not sure if prevention is possible however, I am sure that a timely diagnosis can save many lives and reduce the associated complications.

To be honest, before reading for this article, I wasn’t aware at all that men can also contract breast cancer. However, due to various reasons “breast cancer is one hundred times more common in women than in men”. It is therefore very important that there is widespread awareness in the society about breast cancer. Awareness among men about the disease is a key because their timely action and support to women is of critical importance to ensure timely intervention. Men’s awareness is also important so that they can focus on the prevention aspects and focus on some risk factors that are avoidable i.e. being overweight and not exercising.

PS: Most of the information was quoted from Pink Ribbon’s website and other relevant websites that have been hyperlinked. For further information please visit:


The writer is a child rights activist and holds a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics is working for the promotion and protection of child rights. He tweets @amahmood72

The article was also published in Express Tribune on November 06, 2015

 

 

 

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