Breast cancer: Experiences, challenges women go through in Kenya

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer with a prevalent rate of 16 per cent.

by EKISA ZABLON

News22 December 2024 - 11:25

In Summary

Cate first discovered a lump on her left breast and decided to contact her family doctor.
The majority of breast cancer patients happen to be in their late 30s and early 40s.

Before March 2022, Catherine Mumbe, a 42-year-old Nairobi-based businesswoman who dealt with kitchenware and a fashion business had big ambitions of expanding her small business venture and connecting with customers not only in Nairobi County but the whole country.

Her world came to a complete standstill when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2022.

Cate, explains how she first discovered a lump on her left breast and decided to contact her family doctor.

It was a series of uncomfortableness that piqued her interest to know what was wrong with her body.

At first, she encountered difficulties while trying to sleep on her left side of the body.

This uncomfortableness led to numbness on her left shoulder. Cate also realised that she fell tired too quickly after doing random house chores.

This was when her family doctor recommended some antibiotics assuming that it was a breast cyst, but after two weeks she went back for a review but the lump had not yet disappeared.

This then prompted her to seek answers from a breast cancer specialist. For two months, it was a back-and-forth process at the clinic.

“I went for a mammogram which then led to going for a biopsy and after 10 days I got my results and the news was not so very good. That is when the doctor said that I had been diagnosed with breast cancer.”

Cate vividly recalls as if it were yesterday when the oncologist first broke the news to her.

“I saw darkness! What came first to my mind was the thought of what would happen to my children now that I have cancer,” she said.

The thought of her two children wasn’t the only thing that spiraled in Cate’s head during that period. Her diagnosis came just after Covid-19.

The journey through chemotherapy tested Cate’s fortitude to the limits physically, emotionally and financially.

“I began my treatment journey with 8 cycles of chemotherapy sessions which usually happened after every 3 weeks. Every package differed and it used to cost between Sh65,000 and Sh78,000 per session,” she said.

The financial burden weighed heavily on her and her family forcing her to liquidate a parcel of land to cater for some of the treatment.

Cate was required to attend twenty consecutive sessions of radiotherapy at a cost of Sh3,500 per day, a Trastuzumab injection at Sh58,000 after every three weeks and a Goserelin injection costing Sh13,154 administered every three months over a period of two years.

She said that despite NHIF funding some of the treatment costs, and her business being non-operational, she was forced to dig into her pockets, a process that depleted their family savings.

Cate recalls how the treatment took a toll on her and the side effects she experienced.

“I would very often experience fatigue that made even a simple exercise like walking a difficult task to perform, I would also go days without eating due to lack of appetite and purging,” she said.

"It was through this journey that I realised how invaluable family support proved to be, without the positive presence of my husband, children and sister I do not know if I could pull through,” she explained.

Cate became withdrawn and went quiet for a minute when I posed to her to narrate her experience with the stigma surrounding breast cancer women.

She described how a section of her family members wanted nothing to do with her. They feared that any interaction with her may infect them.

“When some of my family members heard that I was diagnosed with breast cancer, they became distant and reluctant to help my treatment cause, some of them even questioned the reason to help since I was going to die anyway,” she recalled.

She explains that the stigma is mostly rooted in myths and misconceptions which result in judgment, isolation, and anxiety for those affected.

Cate had made a full recovery by April 2024 and she emphasises that there is a need to create more awareness of the issue through approaches like offering free breast cancer screening services in major health facilities around the country.

In Kenya, breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer among all the other types of cancer in women. It is also the second cause of cancer deaths in the country after cervical cancer.

According to the Ministry of Health and Faraja Cancer Support, breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer with a prevalent rate of 6,000 annual new cases (16 per cent)) and 2,500 cancer-related deaths annually (11 per cent)

While awareness around the disease has acutely grown, its high mortality rate still stems from a myriad of challenges comprising of late-stage diagnosis, limited access to quality healthcare, financial barriers, and misconceptions, which still plague many individuals and communities across the country.

*Dr Mariusz Marek, a Consultant General and Oncoplastic surgeon at MP Shah Hospital in Westlands Nairobi*

Dr Mariusz Marek, an oncoplastic surgeon, a practice he has perfected for over 15 years, says that about 7,300 newly diagnosed breast cancers were reported in the year 2022.

He projects the numbers to have increased for the years 2023 and 2024.

Marek says that the majority of breast cancer patients happen to be in their late 30s and early 40s, this constitutes about 40 per cent of breast cancer patients.

A change in the shape or size of one of the breasts is one of the key symptoms that Marek urges women and men to be on the lookout for.

”Probably the most common sign is a lump on the breast which may result from changes in the skin.

He also advised on changes in the nipple, where it could often start discharging clear fluid or blood or the nipple could be crusty and painless.

Marek emphasizes the importance of early screening as the country is well equipped with the required screening machinery that can detect cancer three to four years before it metastasizes.

“Recommendations in Kenya direct that we start breast cancer screening at the age of 40 years up to the age of 55 years which is to be done once a year. Then we continue once every two years from the age of 56 years,” he explained on the proposed age for routine breast cancer screening.

Marek who sees close to 100 patients a week however says that early screening of up to 32 years is advocated for if there is a cancer-related family history.

Younger women under the age of 32 years undergo ultrascan sounds.

“Generally, in Kenya, what we have is that 70 per cent to 80 per cent of breast cancer patients are diagnosed in very late stages and that is particularly one of the reasons many of them don’t survive a span of 5 years after being diagnosed with the disease,” Marek said speaking on the survival rates for women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Lack of financial ability to cater for cancer-related treatment leading to inconsistent treatment phases is also a pervasive issue affecting the survival rate as explained by the medic.

Living a healthy life through eating healthy and exercising.

He faults a lack of financial ability and zero awareness as one of the barriers that Kenyan women face in their probe for breast cancer care especially in underserved areas.

“I think it is also financial. Why this? Because cancer treatment is a bit expensive and whatever we do, even if it is in government facilities there are still costs attached,” he said.

“What is important is that we catch the problem early through screening, the treatment is available and it would be much more affordable if the cancer is diagnosed early.”