Story of A Cancer Survivor-Anyanwu-Akeredolu

When I had cancer, I told my husband that I would lose one breast and he could play with the other one

Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, 60, recently celebrated 16 years as a breast cancer survivor. She is the founder of Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria and wife of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, former president of Nigeria Bar Association.

 She chatted on the Before & After Cancer SAGA.....

As someone who suffered cancer 16 years ago, how did you then feel celebrating 60?

I felt highly honoured as so many people came. The beauty of it was that we had mix grill of guests, the high, the low and the very low. Physically challenged community, the deaf, which I am very much attached to, came because one of my adopted sons is deaf. I shed tears but the tears were of joy; it is like Nigerians are beginning to embrace my story because so many people came just to see this woman who had survived breast cancer for 16 years. They felt it was unheard of because they had only heard of people who didn’t make it.

Probably you shed tears when you remembered the first time you were diagnosed with cancer 16 years ago.

Yes because it’s like a flashback; it turned out to be like a feeling that you surmounted the odd. There are ways you can express emotion; when you feel sad, you cry and when you feel joy, you also cry. I cried because I felt overjoyed. It could be emotional because my husband was there, so many important personalities were there and they were saying it’s okay. I would say all that combined and made me cry a little.

Did you do the surgery and all the treatment in Nigeria?

Yes, I did everything in Nigeria and people get surprised when I tell them that. That tells you that the capacity is here. What we lack are the enabling environment and infrastructure to work.

If you had cancer and survived 16 years ago, why are people still dying of the disease today?

That’s also one of the reasons I felt that Nigerians are beginning to be aware. What came up that day, I know it was going to be a talk of town and that they would talk about it for a long time. We are now spreading the word that being diagnosed with cancer is not a death sentence and secondly there are certain steps to take to survive it. When you asked why people still die, it’s due to ignorance; the information hasn’t permeated to the nooks and crannies of the society. We still need to do a lot more to make people realise that breast cancer is a medical issue. It is not spiritual attack or juju because you need to understand what the problem is. If you don’t know what is worrying you, then anything goes. So many people will ask to you to go to one church, they would pray for you and the lump in your breast will disappear but anyone who understands what breast cancer is will tell you it’s a lie. So there was no better forum for that message to be delivered and it was wonderfully delivered by a medical doctor who has been working with us for over 10 years. It is deeply entrenched in our people to be superstitious about breast cancer and you need to flush that out and this can be done by awareness creation. It is awareness programme that is supported with funds, not mouth alone. Government and well-meaning Nigerians should fund that but the government is not really getting it.

Before you were diagnosed 16 years ago, were you checking your breasts for lumps?

Definitely not. Often times, you have experiences that change your perception about everything; you have experience that wakes up something in you which you never knew you had. My experience awakened so many things in me that I didn’t know I had, for example, public speaking and writing. I know if I didn’t have breast cancer, I probably would just be jumping over the place but I am also thankful that I had the inspiration to share the experience of my survival for the public to learn from. Probably some women who had lumps in their breasts but would not go to hospital would change their mind when they heard that the lumps are always painless initially until six months after when you have a full blown infection. The fact that I was able to come out makes me very proud; I am not ashamed of it. I don’t think I am the only one; there are many Nigerian women who had successful treatment and are doing very well but they decided to keep quiet. I don’t think that is the best way to live, as one of my children would always say, we should come out more. That is the difference between us and the white people; their life is just like a book that you can open and read. When my cancer picture was shown that day, people were shocked to their marrows. Nobody knew; in fact, my husband and my kids didn’t know about that photograph until when I started compiling my book. The time I was diagnosed, I didn’t know anyone but I knew that a time would come when saying it by words of the mouth would not be enough. That was why I took the picture then because a picture says a thousand words. Let me tell you something, when I was diagnosed, I didn’t know anyone. I just went to UCH; all the information I got was from television documentaries. Then, we had subscription to the cable television and the very first time I had the lump, I was on an annual leave and I was just loafing around. When I felt the lump, I didn’t go to the hospital immediately because I was very scared.  I was asking myself, why should this happen to me? Within a week, I had shrunk. I just tuned the cable television and it was Rolanda’s Show titled, ‘This Programme can save your life’ and it was about breast cancer. They showed pictures of women victims and every stage of the diagnoses and treatment was documented with pictures. That gave me the idea to document my own too and from watching the programme, I made up my mind that if what I was feeling turned out to be cancer, I was going to survive it just as the women survivors I watched on the cable television programme. The next day, I just went to UCH instead of our family doctor because I was very careful.

You did not tell your husband?

I couldn’t tell and that was why I didn’t go to our family doctor too because he would eventually tell my husband. It was after the confirmation that I was able to tell him.

So, before you went to the hospital, you still were not sure what it was?

No, I wasn’t sure but ever before I left my house, I said, should it turn out to be breast cancer, it was not going to kill me. I would be like those oyinbo women I watched on the TV. When it was confirmed, I was ready. I wasn’t going to reject surgery. You know some women, if you told them that they would lose their breast, some of them would faint. Then when I had the surgery, the problem was whether to take the chemotherapy and because I had read a lot about the scourge on the internet, I knew so much about everything and implication of each step. When I looked at my medical history, I knew that I wasn’t going to cope with chemotherapy because I react to everyday drugs. And I knew that chemo drugs are very powerful; they would kill both cancer cells and the normal cells. I told myself that if I took the chemo drugs, I knew I would not live in the next one week. I would rather stay for six months and get my children prepared; it was terrible. I told my consultant and he said I should go and think about it but when I went back eventually, I told him I was not doing chemo and he agreed. I read about it that if your condition was localised and it had not affected the surrounding tissues, neither had it gone into the nymph node and then the blood stream, then you are fine with just surgery and radiotherapy. Then you are given Tamoxifen and in two years, you are okay. I believed in that one until what they were doing in UCH that time where everybody had chemo with some of them dying from the chemo instead of the disease.  That was the decision that I took; I didn’t take chemo and I am glad I didn’t.

You were scared to tell your husband when you felt the lumps, when you eventually told him, what was his reaction?

He died first; he lost it. Of course, he was very supportive eventually but he was really scared.  When they confirmed that it would result into mastectomy, both my doctor and our friend, Professor Jaye Thomas didn’t know how to break the news but I saw it in their face and I was the one that broke the ice. I talked to my husband and said, if this thing is cancer, I would lose one breast, you would play with the other one and everybody started laughing. That was how I broke the ice. I said the whole breast should be removed because I can’t stand my children being raised by another person. I had that fighting spirit that I must be around for my children whatever it would take. I wanted to live and the thought of my children gave me a further lift.

Before you discovered the lump, was it your usual practice to check your breasts?

No, I must admit. When we were in the university, we always read about breast cancer and breast examination in Ebony Magazine and all the rest but we glossed over it. I never for one day checked but when I had my bath, unconsciously I would feel my breasts, not to check for anything but somehow I would do it. Then, I just felt that lump and I zeroed in where I felt it. Of course my mind raced to breast cancer but I said it was not possible, with my plans and my children, how could I have breast cancer?  But the thing was there and refused to disappear and my fingers would not leave it. But the good thing nowadays is that self examination is like a jingle now and I think the level of awareness is increasing.

At what point did you decide to go public with your story and when you told your husband, did he object to it?

I took the decision on my own to go public and my husband would tell you that he objected to it but I stood on my feet firmly. I said nobody was going to stop me because when I got to the hospital, I thought I was alone but it would amaze you that two wards were filled with women with different stages of breast cancer. It was a taboo to come out with such a story then. As I said, my husband would be honest and he has been honest in saying it that when I wanted to come public with it, that he said no but that I put my feet down that nobody would live my life for me. Gradually, he got used to it and he is my main supporter now; he is my iroko. I refer to my husband as my iroko; you know when you are under iroko, you are protected. At the end of the day, he became my cheer leader and supporter and there is nothing he can not do for this organisation because he has found out that it makes me happy.Through self education, I got to know that breast cancer progresses with time; you have zero stage when you can’t see it but by only mammography. Stage one is when you can feel it and that was my stage when I felt it with my hands. If you do nothing, it goes to stage two, three and four. Majority of Nigerians would not come to the hospital until when they are in stages three and four during which time it might be too late. The Ekiti State Deputy Governor presented her case at stage 3.

Why didn’t you consider spiritual means first?

I never did because I am not really a religious person. I don’t believe in all that and that was my saving grace, otherwise, I would not be here. I have my opinion on how things should be done and this started when I went to the Philippines for my masters. The system here is read, cram and pour, it is not in-depth but I saw the difference when I went to Philippines where lecturers and students interact. When you interact with your lecturers, you tend to learn more; it’s not just the subject matter, other things would come to play. I had two lecturers who were down to earth and then, they tended to like African students. At the cafeteria, lecturers and students would queue for food together and sit down to eat. And we postgraduate students were more mature; some of us married and had children. The lecturers taught you more than the subject matter but other things like developmental issues that we had in Nigeria then. My education in that place changed me completely.

Would you say your case was as a result of hereditary?

No, I wouldn’t say that because very small percentage of cancer is hereditary and you can trace it in the family history but now that I have it, the percentage of my children having it is high. They might and again, they might not even have it. They are very conscious of it now and with the rate genetic testing is becoming cheaper, a time would come that everyone would be able to afford it and get rid of it at zero stage. When Angelina Jolie did it, she just removed the two of her breasts because her mother died of it and even her aunt. She did genetic testing and discovered that she had about ninety something percentage of having it. Environmental factors are being looked into.

What were you doing then before you had it that you don’t do now in terms of food you take and social life?

When it comes to social, I am even more social now but I have done away with so many lifestyles. I am even looking healthier. Eba, amala, bread, yam, all those starchy food are no more on my diet. I weaned myself gradually from all those things and soft drinks. It has also been found out that what we eat could also have a hand in all kinds of diseases that affect us. I play tennis, I do yoga and I decided to promote exercise among women and embarked upon it. My food now is vegetable with fish, peanuts, cashew nuts and fruits. By first Saturday of every month, women come here, they exercise and we serve them what we call healthy breakfast but no minerals at all.

Which means that the change in your diet too has affected the family as a whole?

Of course, that is it. Everybody goes green and fruit; in my house, there must be fish.

Before the time, what were you doing?

I was with Federal Ministry of Agriculture, department of fisheries. I worked there for 28 years. I read zoology and went to Philippines for my masters in fishery. I decided to leave when I was tired of pushing files; you are in the ministry and your brain will atrophy. I managed to stay till 2005 when I left for fish production and I am very happy doing that. I am even grooming people to be producers, this is what we need, not pushing files. I don’t think I would want any of my children to go into federal ministry; if you were smart in the university, they may make you a dullard.

How was it getting married to a Yoruba lawyer?

After my youth service, I got posted to Enugu where my husband was serving. A very close friend of mine with whom I was very close had her boyfriend serving in Enugu and was a friend to my husband. When my friend’s boyfriend and Aketi came visiting, that was how we met and we sparked.

Did you have an open mind in terms of marriage?

I would say I am a non conformist; it is not that I didn’t have people from my area coming to have relationship but there are some qualities you look out for in a man. When I saw him, I liked his broad shoulders; that was the first attraction. I needed someone that would envelop me and protect me and that is what he has been doing all these years. He was very good looking and he played tennis and I liked to play tennis too. I don’t regret marrying him even though my people had their apprehension that Yoruba are fond of marrying second wife. My father, who was a headmaster, warned him seriously that if you maltreat her, that’s her room, she will come back. There is nothing like marriage made in heaven even when you are killing the woman. Thank God, my husband did not disappoint my father. My father loved me so much and when I brought him home, my father shook his head and said it’s okay and he blessed us and he did not regret it.

Did you support your husband’s political aspiration when he vied for governorship seat in Ondo State?

I was even in politics before him. I contested election in 2007; I wanted to be senator but eventually I contested as a member of the House of Representatives. I was there too in 2011 to support Chief Rochas Okorochas. I encouraged my husband even though he wasn’t so much in the kind of politics played around. The politics he knew is Bar politics and students union politics. It was like dragging out someone but we are still playing politics of amala and ewedu.

Would you say you are free of cancer?

Yes, I can confidently tell you I am completely free of cancer. I used to feel the trepidation in the first few years but I don’t feel that anymore.

culled from PUNCH