Experts say it is curable if detected early.  Yet, breast cancer has become one of the two most fearful cancers killing more women than any other. 

I have been agonising lately hearing one after the other, the sad news of the passing of some lovely women to the ferocious disease - breast cancer.  I have been greatly distressed because the stories I hear concerning the losses are almost similar and so I keep asking myself, “What could have saved them”?  The fact is any woman, young or old could become a victim just as the ladies I once knew and who are no more.

A cousin’s wife is the latest victim to have died of breast cancer just a few weeks ago.  Recounting the sad loss of the wife with so much grief and at a point asking rhetorically, “But she was cured, so why did she die?”  I felt his pain and his disappointment as we spoke.  Not that the wife did not detect the disease early enough.  She did some two or three years ago when she was told the disease was in its very early days.

She went through a series of tests and then got treatment.   She was told she was cancer free and there was everything to show that too.   She was bubbly and went back to her normal life, careful with her meals, exercised regularly and generally stayed healthy and fit.

Earlier this year, she started feeling ill and various tests at the hospital proved that the cancer was back, this time very aggressive and had spread to other parts of the body.  Devastation, shock, fear, anger, rejection and disappointment all built up in her.  She went down so fast that within months she had grown frail until she finally gave up the ghost a few weeks back.

That unfortunately is the painful ponderous path some victims of breast cancer have to go through.  Imagine how devastating it would be to be told that you are cancer free only to be hit with the ill fated news that the cancer was hiding and had spread to other parts of the body.

At least in the last couple of years, I have heard about some regrettable losses attributed to the resurgence of the disease after doctors had declared healing.  It is becoming alarming that lives of some women are being cut short and families left traumatised by a disease that is eating into the bodies of both the young and the old.  Surprisingly, even young women in their twenties are being hit with breast cancer.

Last month, the world observed October as breast cancer month simply to draw attention once again to the disease.  The various activities to mark the month were designed to hammer home the need for every woman to do self checks and go for regular medical screening for early detection.

In Ghana, gratefully, Dr. Mrs. Beatrice Wiafe Addai and her non-governmental organisation, Breast Care International Ghana (BCIG), have hammered on the message over and over; created awareness and sufferers are receiving counselling and better care. 

Gone were the days when sufferers refused to have their breasts removed for aesthetic reasons.  Those days, victims of the disease were tagged, sometimes branded as witches.  Some believed that families with breast cancer occurrences were cursed hence the stigmatisation that went with it. 

Today, the good works of NGOs like BCIG, have not only saved lives, they have contributed to demystifying the myth surrounding the disease.  The result is that there is better awareness and sufferers are leading quality lives supported by their families and the community.  Dr. Mrs. Wiafe is one woman who needs to be celebrated on all fronts in view of her advocacy work on breast cancer and the hope and joy she has and continues to bring to many.

Indeed, no woman in Ghana today should die of breast cancer.  It is no longer a disease that should be hidden.  The awareness is great and the encouragement for early checks is real.  Some employers are supporting their female employees to go for regular screening.  Apart from it being curable if detected early, treatment is free under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Perhaps, what is even more encouraging for all women is the further support the government is ready to provide in stemming the tide of breast cancer.  A fortnight ago, at a Breast Cancer Awareness Walk organised by Dr. Mrs. Wiafe’s BCIG, the President of the Republic, HE John Mahama announced that the government will put the screening and investigation of breast cancer under the NHIS.   

He also added that the government would support the training of public health nurses in the screening and treatment of breast cancer.  This is a sure opportunity for those women who cannot afford the cost of screening and tests for early detection. 

Breast cancer is fearsome.  In many minds, it connotes the end of the road.  Thankfully, experts continue to assure us that it is not as we think and for as long as we avail ourselves to regular self checks and early screening, we shall soon shame a disease that is traumatising many women.  We all owe it a duty to carry the education far and near and let our women know that help is near.