Keep abreast of progress in cancer treatment

CHERYL Ferreira (46) was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer in 2001 and after very aggressive chemotherapy and the removal of one breast she now focuses all her energy on the Reach For Recovery organisation and helping other women going through the same ordeal.

The international organisation has been active in Namibia for roughly 19 years, but it is very low key and Cheryl hopes to change this. Reach For Recovery visits breast-cancer patients in hospitals.With the permission of the patients, the hospitals and doctors phone the organisation on the patients’ behalf.Ferreira feels that doctors need to get more involved and inform their new patients about the organisation and the fact that there is support available.She says the organisation meets with a lot of rejection from patients who refuse to talk about their cancer and mastectomies.”A lot of women do not want to talk to us or see us, although we are all breast-cancer survivors and know first hand what they are going through.We are here for them,” says Cheryl.During the visits, patients are encouraged and counselled.The women also receive goodie bags containing information pamphlets, a temporary prosthesis and a comfort pillow.Reach For Recovery would like to add more items to the bag, since many of the women are State patients with low incomes.Reach For Recovery’s objectives are to reduce the breast-cancer mortality rate, to increase public awareness of the illness and promote a healthy lifestyle, to encourage the practice of self-examination of the breasts, to establish volunteer networks throughout Namibia and to train new volunteers in all regions of the country.They also inform patients who had a mastectomy on the availability of prostheses and support clothing, and on cheaper ways to make their own prostheses.When Cheryl was diagnosed, she received a lot of support from her family, friends and especially her husband, who still supports her and the work she does with Reach For Recovery.She says she was and still is very positive, adding that sitting in a corner feeling sorry for oneself serves no purpose.”You can lead a normal life and contribute normally to life – it is just a matter of acceptance, especially by the husband, which makes it much easier for the woman to carry on normally,” she says.MEET THE ENEMY Breast cancer may be one of the oldest known forms of cancer tumours in humans.The oldest description of cancer (although the term cancer was not used) was discovered in Egypt and dates back to approximately 1600 BC.The Edwin Smith Papyrus describes eight cases of tumours or ulcers of the breast that were treated by cauterisation, with a tool called “the fire drill.”The writing says about the disease: “There is no treatment.”For centuries, physicians described similar cases in their practices, with the same sad conclusion.It wasn’t until doctors achieved greater understanding of the circulatory system in the 17th century that they could establish a link between breast cancer and the lymph nodes in the armpit.The French surgeon Jean Louis Petit (1674-1750) and later the Scottish surgeon Benjamin Bell (1749-1806) were the first to remove the lymph nodes, breast tissue, and underlying chest muscle.Their successful work was carried on by William Stewart Halsted, who started performing mastectomies in 1882.He became known for his Halsted radical mastectomy, a surgical procedure that remained popular up to the 1970s.Early breast cancer can in some cases present as breast pain or a painful lump.If a woman has a lump under the arm or above the collarbone that does not go away, she needs to consult a doctor.When breast cancer associates with skin inflammation, this is known as inflammatory breast cancer.In inflammatory breast cancer, the breast tumour itself is causing an inflammatory reaction of the skin, and this can cause pain, swelling, warmth, and redness throughout the breast.Changes in the appearance or shape of the breast and nipple can raise suspicions of breast cancer.Discharge from the nipple could also be a sign of breast cancer.Most breast symptoms do not turn out to represent underlying breast cancer.Benign breast diseases such as fibrocystic mastopathy, mastitis, functional mastodynia, and fibroadenoma of the breast are more common causes of breast symptoms.But the appearance of a new breast symptom should be taken seriously by both patients and their doctors, because of the possibility of an underlying breast cancer at almost any age and early detection is of utmost importance.Worldwide, breast cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death (after lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, and colon cancer).In 2005, breast cancer caused 502 000 deaths (7 per cent of cancer deaths; almost 1 per cent of all deaths) worldwide.Among women worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the most common cause of cancer death.In Namibia breast cancer is the second most common cancer after skin cancer.Every woman is a risk of getting breast cancer simply by being a woman.Although the chance of getting breast cancer rises as a woman gets older, women who have family members with breast or ovarian cancer are also at risk and personal facts like starting with menstrual periods before age 12 or reaching menopause after age 55 are also a factor.Women who did not have children, had their first child after age 35 or never breastfed are also in the high risk group.Other risks include being overweight, using hormone replacement therapy, taking birth-control pills, drinking alcohol or having dense breasts.Women need to self-examine their breasts on a regular basis and information pamphlets in this regard are available either at Reach For Recovery or the Cancer Association of Namibia.Reach For Recovery is embarking of a Breast Cancer Awareness programme for women in the rural areas, where the mortality rate due to breast cancer is the highest.They will be visiting clinics and hospitals in the North form September 24 to the 28 to educate and inform women about the signs and symptoms of breast caner.The programme will kick off at the Okahao District Hospital and will end at the Engela Hospital, having visited the Tsandi, Outapi, Oshikuku, Oshakati, Onandjokwe and Eenhana hospitals.October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and people are encouraged to donate N$5 to Reach For Recovery and wear pink on September 12.The annual MediClinic Breast Cancer Awareness Walk will take place on September 13 in Windhoek, Swakopmund and Otjiwarongo simultaneously.A prayer service for all breast cancer survivors, women currently undergoing treatment and their families will be held on October 9.”Early detection saves lives and breasts and a lump in your breast need not be a lump in your throat,” is the motto under which Reach For Recovery operates and according to which Cheryl lives.People who would like to find out more about the organisation, who need help or would like to contribute are welcome to phone Cheryl at 081 240 6977.Reach For Recovery visits breast-cancer patients in hospitals.With the permission of the patients, the hospitals and doctors phone the organisation on the patients’ behalf.Ferreira feels that doctors need to get more involved and inform their new patients about the organisation and the fact that there is support available.She says the organisation meets with a lot of rejection from patients who refuse to talk about their cancer and mastectomies.”A lot of women do not want to talk to us or see us, although we are all breast-cancer survivors and know first hand what they are going through.We are here for them,” says Cheryl.During the visits, patients are encouraged and counselled.The women also receive goodie bags containing information pamphlets, a temporary prosthesis and a comfort pillow.Reach For Recovery would like to add more items to the bag, since many of the women are State patients with low incomes.Reach For Recovery’s objectives are to reduce the breast-cancer mortality rate, to increase public awareness of the illness and promote a healthy lifestyle, to encourage the practice of self-examination of the breasts, to establish volunteer networks throughout Namibia and to train new volunteers in all regions of the country.They also inform patients who had a mastectomy on the availability of prostheses and support clothing, and on cheaper ways to make their own prostheses.When Cheryl was diagnosed, she received a lot of support from her family, friends and especially her husband, who still supports her and the work she does with Reach For Recovery.She says she was and still is very positive, adding that sitting in a corner feeling sorry for oneself serves no purpose.”You can lead a normal life and contribute normally to life – it is just a matter of acceptance, especially by the husband, which makes it much easier for the woman to carry on normally,” she says.MEET THE ENEMY Breast cancer may be one of the oldest known forms of cancer tumours in humans.The oldest description of cancer (although the term cancer was not used) was discovered in Egypt and dates back to approximately 1600 BC.The Edwin Smith Papyrus describes eight cases of tumours or ulcers of the breast that were treated by cauterisation, with a tool called “the fire drill.”The writing says about the disease: “There is no treatment.”For centuries, physicians described similar cases in their practices, with the same sad conclusion.It wasn’t until doctors achieved greater understanding of the circulatory system in the 17th century that they could establish a link between breast cancer and the lymph nodes in the armpit.The French surgeon Jean Louis Petit (1674-1750) and later the Scottish surgeon Benjamin Bell (1749-1806) were the first to remove the lymph nodes, breast tissue, and underlying chest muscle.Their successful work was carried on by William Stewart Halsted, who started performing mastectomies in 1882.He became known for his Halsted radical mastectomy, a surgical procedure that remained popular up to the 1970s.Early breast cancer can in some cases present as breast pain or a painful lump.If a woman has a lump under the arm or above the collarbone that does not go away, she needs to consult a doctor.When breast cancer associates with skin inflammation, this is known as inflammatory breast cancer.In inflammatory breast cancer, the breast tumour itself is causing an inflammatory reaction of the skin, and this can cause pain, swelling, warmth, and redness throughout the breast.Changes in the appearance or shape of the breast and nipple can raise suspicions of breast cancer.Discharge from the nipple could also be a sign of breast cancer.Most breast symptoms do not turn out to represent underlying breast cancer.Benign breast diseases such as fibrocystic mastopathy, mastitis, functional mastodynia, and fibroadenoma of the breast are more common causes of breast symptoms.But the appearance of a new breast symptom should be taken seriously by both patients and their doctors, because of the possibility of an underlying breast cancer at almost any age and early detection is of utmost importance.Worldwide, breast cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer death (after lung cancer, stomach cancer, liver cancer, and colon cancer).In 2005, breast cancer caused 502 000 deaths (7 per cent of cancer deaths; almost 1 per cent of all deaths) worldwide.Among women worldwide, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the most common cause of cancer death.In Namibia breast cancer is the second most common cancer after skin cancer.Every woman is a risk of getting breast cancer simply by being a woman.Although the chance of getting breast cancer rises as a woman gets older, women who have family members with breast or ovarian cancer are also at risk and personal facts like starting with menstrual periods before age 12 or reaching menopause after age 55 are also a factor.Women who did not have children, had their first child after age 35 or never breastfed are also in the high risk group.Other risks include being overweight, using hormone replacement therapy, taking birth-control pills, drinking alcohol or having dense breasts.Women need to self-examine their breasts on a regular basis and information pamphlets in this regard are available either at Reach For Recovery or the Cancer Association of Namibia.Reach For Recovery is embarking of a Breast Cancer Awareness programme for women in the rural areas, where the mortality rate due to breast cancer is the highest.They will be visiting clinics and hospitals in the North form September 24 to the 28 to educate and inform women about the signs and symptoms of breast caner.The programme will kick off at the Okahao District Hospital and will end at the Engela Hospital, having visited the Tsandi, Outapi, Oshikuku, Oshakati, Onandjokwe and Eenhana hospitals.October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and people are encouraged to donate N$5 to Reach For Recovery and wear pink on September 12.The annual MediClinic Breast Cancer Awareness Walk will take place on September 13 in Windhoek, Swakopmund and Otjiwarongo simultaneously.A prayer service for all breast cancer survivors, women currently undergoing treatment and their families will be held on October 9.”Early detection saves lives and breasts and a lump in your breast need not be a lump in your throat,” is the motto under which Reach For Recovery operates and according to which Cheryl lives.People who would like to find out more about the organisation, who need help or would like to contribute are welcome to phone Cheryl at 081 240 6977.