Although she has been deemed cancer free, 45-year-old Aloma Garnett tears up when talking about her diagnosis and how difficult the fight was, but for her giving up was never an option and that is the message she wants to get over to other women.
“Even if at times you have to fight alone, do it. Once you have the will, God will do the rest for you,” she encouraged other women struggling with a cancer diagnosis.
She is not naïve about the difficulty people face when diagnosed with cancer and is candid enough to say she has had bad days and very bad days but even as the tears came as she remembered those days, she also smiled at the days when she fought valiantly to overcome.
Garnett, who was diagnosed with skin cancer, is one of the many survivors in Guyana joining the rest of the world to observe Cancer Survivor Month, an annual June event. In Guyana, the Guyana Cancer Foundation is one organisation which continues to support survivors, mostly women, with small financial assistance mostly towards helping to offset the cost for scans they need to get done. But most important, the foundation, which recently became a member of the American Cancer Society, has a support group through which survivors can receive moral and psychological support as they navigate the survivor’s journey.
Bibi Hassan, who formed the foundation exactly six years ago, told Stabroek Weekend that for the year she has convened two mental health sessions for survivors as she has realised that apart from medical assistance, many of them need help to cope mentally with their diagnosis and the treatment.
The month celebrates those who have fought the disease and those who are on treatment. According to the US National Cancer Institute, an individual is considered a cancer survivor from the time of diagnosis and throughout life. According to the institute, “Every survivorship experience is unique as they may face challenges during and after treatments. With survivorship research, adverse effects will be controlled, treated, and prevented.”
One such person is 54-year-old Anna Dass, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and has since had a mastectomy and undergone chemo and radiation therapy. She is now hoping to receive news that she is cancer free, but for her getting this far is a victory in itself.
“And you know I get no side effects from the chemo nor the radiotherapy; me hair fall off but other than that I coulda take care of me self and do my work and so on. I know people who get sick, sick from chemo but nothing like that for me,” she said in a recent interview.
‘Just a spot’
Garnett recalled seeing what she described as “just a spot” on the left side of the front of her head.
“It was like a boil come out and I say is nothing… I rub on it and it go away and then I see it start come back. Then as fast as I would colour me hair or bleach it, I would see it start coming more big, and then I see it start ooze and I say nah something wrong here,” she shared.
That was in 2018 and she decided to visit the skin clinic located in the compound of the Palms. She was immediately referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, joined a clinic and was given medication. She was also advised to use a small tube of cream which cost $2,200. According to Garnett, one tube finished with just one use.
“It take a lot of money, but this thing was not going anywhere. It go away and then come back. I stop going to the clinic for a while and then the pandemic came, and they close off everything as they only want emergency patients,” Garnett said.
Her mother, who is a breast cancer survivor, encouraged her to seek further treatment. At this point, Garnett broke down in tears as she recalled that the spot was by then oozing and bleeding. She visited the cancer institute and was advised that a biopsy would have to be done. This was done in December last year and at the same time an operation was done to remove the affected section of scalp.
She was later diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer. According to the Mayo Clinic, basal cell carcinoma often appears as a slightly transparent bump on the skin, though it can take other forms. Basal cell carcinoma occurs most often on areas of the skin that are exposed to the sun, such as one’s head and neck. Most basal cell carcinomas are thought to be caused by long-term exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight. Avoiding the sun and using sunscreen may help protect against basal cell carcinoma.
She was diagnosed in January and as she recalled this, Garnett once again teared up sharing that she was forced to stop doing her small business because of her illness. “I was a small hustler. I used to make my lil cheese please [plantain and cheese] and sell. My occupation was really cosmetology, but due to my kids I had leave and I use to make my cheese please, but I had to stop,” the mother of three said.
She underwent 30 sessions of radiation which she described as “very tough. I mean people mightn’t see me cancer as a big thing, but people don’t understand cancer is a cancer. People telling me is not a big thing but remember again is not on you is on me…,” she said adding that the doctor told her the cancer was heading to her brain.
She also suffered from massive headaches and even today she gets pain, but she hopes with time it eases. She was told that she was cancer free, but she continues to go for check-ups.
“A lil but tired, a lil bit stressed but nothing to complain about like before. Because I used to get a lot of headaches, a lot of biting like really terrible pain but not so much now,” she said.
A lump
Dass said it was a lump in her breast that saw her rushing to the hospital last year, as she knew what it could have meant.
“I was afraid, but I put God in front. I did an ultrasound and a mammogram…,” she recalled adding that a doctor told her he would remove the lump, but she was advised to get another opinion.
The second opinion was that she should have a biopsy, which ultimately gave her the diagnosis of breast cancer.
“I brought home the results because I had another date to go back to the doctor and is me daughter-in-law tell me, ‘mommy you get breast cancer’. I start to holler and I cry and cry and then you know I calm down and say I have to take up me cross and fetch it,” she shared.
She eventually had a mastectomy followed by eight sessions of chemo and 30 sessions of radio therapy. She said while she had hoped just the lump would be removed she did not hesitate to have her breast removed as she wanted to live.
“Let me be honest with you, when God is with you everything will go safe for you, everything will be okay. I had no side effects from the chemo or the radiotherapy, no diarrhea, no vomiting, no weakness nothing. Just me hair drop off,” Dass said.
“I wouldn’t lie, I feel a little sad and down when my breast get remove but I get over it right now,” she continued adding that her three children, husband, daughter-in-law and son-in-law have been very supportive.
She encourages other women not to give up if they have a cancer diagnosis as there is still hope.
“Right now I have a friend doing it and she would say she down and I would encourage her and tell her not to give up,” she said. “I knew about breast cancer. I didn’t have it in my thought that this it would happen me, but I had to fight,” she added.
‘Wasn’t bad, wasn’t good’
Garnett said her experience with cancer “wasn’t bad and it wasn’t good”, but she met many different people who helped along the journey.
“That place [the cancer institute] you meet a lot of different people… Everybody get a different story to talk. Who ain’t get cervical cancer, have breast cancer, some lung cancer. When we sitting there waiting on treatment, we have conversations and talking about where they went before coming there and so… Almost all was women, they had like three men alone and they had prostate cancer, but all of us used to be cooperating with one another; it was like a support group,” she said.
She said even now she remains in contact with some on social media and she continues to encourage them. Garnett said she feels for those with cervical cancer. She knows how serious it is as she lost a cousin to this cancer. She added, “my family is like a cancer history”. Her grandmother died from breast cancer and her mom is a breast cancer survivor.
Garnett had some words for men who do not support their wives, especially when they have cervical cancer.
“You know, when they have cervical cancer, the men leave because they can’t have sex, not realising how much pain the woman is in. Even when I had me time I don’t have time to study that I just stressed about getting better,” she said.
Garnett said she has received tremendous support from her husband and children, the youngest of whom is just five years old.
“Men need to stop thinking like that. If you love a woman you can’t be thinking about sex all the time, you have to study her part and when she heal then you can continue. It is a long journey, but you have to wait,” she said.
According to her, men do not have respect for women and when a woman finds a man who respects her, she should “hold on and cherish that man. I grow up seeing women get treat like dog… I want to say to men out there, support you wife during cancer. It is a very hard thing to deal with. Like one of the women say that she husband say if she cut off she breast he ain’t want she no more. I say well darling if you choose breast over your health and dead, he still would get a next breast so you need to do what you have to do.”
Eventually the woman did the mastectomy and they are still together.
Garnett encourages other women not to give up if there are diagnosed with cancer.
“Women out there do what you have to do, don’t ever give up. You have to trust in God and God will bring you through… I did it and if I could, they could, no matter how hard it is..,” she advised.
