I was 25-years-old when I detected that I had breast cancer, Gifty Opoye narrated her story to the host of Home Affairs on Joy FM, Edem Knight-Tay.
According to her, she heard on the radio that as a lady, you have to massage your breasts to see if there’s something wrong with it.
So she tried it and noticed there was a little lump in one of her breasts.
“Initially, I ignored it, but after 3 months, it started growing bigger. So, I informed my brothers because I’m the only girl in the midst of six boys, but they didn’t take me seriously,” Gifty muttered sadly.
She said the lump was not painful then, but as it grew bigger, it became painful. So, she took a step further and went to a clinic at Winneba, and they diagnosed her with fibroadenoma.
“They said it was not cancer, but if I didn’t take it out, it may later turn cancerous. I informed my brothers, but they ignored me,” Gifty said sadly.
When asked about how she was finally diagnosed with the disease, Gifty said she sought medical care from the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. A sample of the lump was taken, and she was told it had developed into a bad cancer.https://www.youtube.com/embed/GLM6wXdM8_U?si=GgCbuHm8mYDhL6YU
Gifty said her brothers’ unconcerned behaviour, did not discourage her. She decided to try herbal medicine.
“I went to see someone who directed me to a lady who said she’ll help me. She gave me herbal medicine and I tried it, but still, there was no improvement. I informed my brothers about the ordeal I was going through, but they still didn’t pay much attention to me because they were focused on taking care of our sick mother.”
“The pain was so much that sometimes, I could lay down for three days without moving… and I was still drinking the herbal medicine,” the breast cancer survivor continued.
“I remember an incident when one of the herbal medicines was applied on the breast, and every pain I was feeling vanished. At that moment, I thought I had gotten the right medicine, but I tried and tried to no avail.”
Unfortunately, my brothers were still not paying any attention to what was happening to me, so
I realised I needed to take action before something bad happened to me, Gifty shared.
“I had to run away from home to go and live with one of my brothers at Kasoa. His wife, that’s my sister-in-law, suggested that I follow her to church to seek help but I was hesitant considering the ordeal I had earlier gone through, having my breast tied with bandage to my shoulder and all that, I didn’t want to encounter anything anymore.”
“Rather, I kept asking God if He’ll allow me to die with such a disease. Due to lack of financial support, and the fact that my family would rather want me to do the herbal treatment which I didn’t subscribe to, I resorted to taking painkillers to reduce the pain I was going through, until last year 27th November, when I decided to finally go to the church”.
“My breast grew very big to the extent that those who didn’t know me thought I was pregnant.
Fortunately, help located me at the church. The pastor and a nurse were instrumental in getting me in touch with someone at the Chemotherapy Department at Korle Bu, and I was given a protocol treatment”
She did some scans, x-rays, and a date was given for the surgery.
“Initially, I was scared because I was not getting any encouragement from anyone. Family and friends were rather putting fear in me. They told me I wouldn’t survive the surgery but a sermon from my Bishop encouraged me, and I took a step of faith to do the surgery.”
Mr. Eric Brobbey at the Chemotherapy Department at Korle Bu raised funds for her treatment and surgery, and thankfully, the surgery was done in April this year.
According to her, it was after the surgery that she got to know that, apparently, she had only 2 weeks to live so if she had not undergone the surgery, she would have died because she had lost a lot of blood due to the overdose of painkillers she consumed during the initial stages of her condition.
“I thank God for a successful surgery. However, not everyone is happy for me. My family actually called me to find out about my whereabouts and when I broke the news to them that I had undergone surgery at Korle-Bu, they got angry and one of them actually told me he never wanted to see me again. So, I’m currently staying with my sister-in-law”, Gifty said.
“I’m supposed to start radiotherapy, but due to lack of funds, I’ve not been able to go for that treatment.”
Host of the programme, Edem Knight-Tay solicited help for Gifty to enable her to undergo the radiotherapy treatment.