Woes of cancer patients - Reach for Recovery offers supoort

Article: Salome Donkor
Women who are diagnosed with breast cancer and who require surgery to remove the affected breast (mastectomy) experience fear, anger, depression, anxiety and a sense of helplessness.
Most of the patients who find it difficult to bear the cost of surgery and treatment become stressed up and, therefore, need a lot of counselling and other support.
To raise awareness of the suffering caused by breast cancer and help survivors to access the best possible treatment and care, Reach for Recovery Ghana, a breast cancer support group working closely with nurses and doctors at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, the Trust Hospital and the 37 Military Hospital, visits women who have been diagnosed with the disease and those who had gone through mastectomy.
The organisation also solicits funds to help pay part of the treatment cost of some of the patients, which include physiotherapy and radiation to prevent the cancer from spreading to other organs of the body.
The support group ensures that the patients have seasoned speakers to talk to during their monthly meetings, during which they are provided with the opportunity to ask questions bothering them.
The survivors are encouraged to participate in stress-relieving trips and also take active roles in visiting one another.
The word ‘cancer’ conjures up deep fears of a silent killer that creeps up on a patient without warning. It evokes such desperation that it has become a metaphor for grief and pain, a scourge that strains intellectual, social and emotional resources.
Statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that there are over 20 million people living with cancer in the world today, with majority in the developing world.
According to medical experts, cancer, which is the term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and invade other tissues, is one of the killer diseases among both men and women.
According to Dr Clegg Lamptey of the Surgical Department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, roughly 70 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer had no identifiable risk factors for the disease.
But the family history risks are that if a first-degree relative (a parent, sibling or child) has had or has breast cancer, one’s risk of developing the disease approximately doubles. Having two first-degree relatives with the disease increases one’s risk even more.
Each cancer is thought to first start from one abnormal cell. What seems to happen is that certain vital genes which control how cells divide and multiply are damaged or altered. This makes the cell abnormal. If the abnormal cell survives, it may multiply “out of control” into a malignant tumour, which consists of cancer cells that have the ability to spread beyond the original area.
Dr Lamptey says cancer affects various parts of the body, which results in various types of cancers, each with its own name and its treatment.
Some types of cancers that affect parts of the body, in addition to the breast, are lung, stomach, skin, cervical and prostrate cancers.
Doctors say cancers in children can affect any part of their bodies. Leukaemia is a type of cancer that starts in blood-forming tissues such as the bone marrow and causes the production of large numbers of abnormal blood cells which enter the blood.
Doctors contend that irrespective of the type of cancer a patient develops, she or he may need one of the following processes — surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy — pointing out that usually patients who have prostrate and breast cancers go through hormonal therapy.
Dr Lamptey points out that cancer can be cured when it is detected early, stressing that cancers need multi-disciplinary treatment with various specialists. However, if left untreated, it may spread and destroy surrounding tissues. Sometimes, cells break away from the original cancer. They may spread to other organs in the body through the bloodstream or lymphatic system.
Mrs Gladys Boateng, Director, Reach for Recovery, who was diagnosed with the disease in Accra in 1999 and got treated in South Africa, said she was scared when she got to know of her condition, but Dr Clegg-Lamptey explained the disease and mode of treatment to her and that raised her confidence level.
She said she also went to a pastor for prayers and went ahead for the surgery, which was successful.
She said Reach for Recovery currently had an active membership of over 100. The volunteers have visited over 1,000 women since 2003 and participated in free-screening programmes, educational and television programmes, adding that the support group had lifted the shroud of secrecy surrounding breast cancer diagnosis and having mastectomy.
Speaking at a breast cancer symposium in Accra, Mrs Boateng said while on admission in South Africa, she had a visit from a volunteer from Reach for Recovery, South Africa who had then survived for nine years after she had been diagnosed with the disease and she really gave her hope, which made her work towards the formation of the support group in Ghana, after her return from South Africa.
According to Mrs Boateng, it was initially difficult to get integrated with the medical team and also convince other women to be volunteers because some women didn't want others to know of their status because they might be stigmatised and others would gossip about them but later some volunteers offered to help and that strengthened the support group.
“We counselled them and gave them 'goody bags’,” she said.
She said the group was also working closely with the Department of Women, the Breast Clinic and other support groups to launch the National Breast Cancer Fund to aid women go through the expensive cost of treating the disease.
She said Ghanaian women diagnosed with breast cancer had a number of challenges, including stigmatisation and gossip about affected women and lack of silicone prosthesis, while the few available were unaffordable, adding that the cost of treatment was highly unaffordable to most patients and the support group was not able to raise enough funds to help affected women
Mrs Boateng also said some herbalists and religious leaders still confused some women that cancer could be cured spiritually and attributed the illness to the devil,
She said the reconstruction of the affected breast needed to be properly addressed, while husbands of affected women needed to offer support to their wives, stressing that survivors needed love, care and encouragement from family members and friends.
She also said there was the need to establish a hospice for terminally ill cancer patients for proper care and support and pointed out that the support group needed to be offered the maximum support to continue the good work.