Hi Friends,

A lot of times, when we talk about science, be it in biological or physical and chemical sciences, we tend to talk about it in an abstract, fluid way. We talk of formulae, equations and theories like they are separate from the people that study or invent them in the first place. More than we know it, more than we care to admit, science is not just that lofty discipline that unravels the mysteries of the world, rather, science involves the people, the lives that touch too many murky waters in the world and expose these places for the perusal of other people. These people are ordinary people interested in the extraordinary phenomena around them. We have the likes of Isaac Newton who pegged a term to the common event of falling apples, there was Albert Einstein who could only read letters left side back and because of this, read a new meaning to the world. And there's the recent Silas Adekunle, a boy who despite coming from the slums in Lagos, had vivid, greater imaginations that have materialised into what we know today as MekaMon. Science is the people, the ordinary lives that see the world in extraordinary ways.

I have talked about the subjects of science. But there is never one side to anything at all. Just as we have the subjects of science, we also have its direct opposite, the objects. These objects are those who get caught up in the throes of some nameable or unnameable scientific problem. In most cases, these objects are either victims of the negative and are normally subject to the brutalities of experiments, dissections, surgeries, pity and in the long run death. From the little rats, tadpoles and frogs used in laboratories to the young child mangled by the burning fever that comes with being exposed to the plasmodium in malaria. And then, there is the woman who woke up one morning in the hospital only to be told that she has some cancerous cells in her body and would have to go through lots and lots of chemotherapies. These are the objects of science, the victims who find themselves being the reasons why science has to make more discoveries, more drugs, more machines, more laboratories, more Einsteins or Alexander Flemings...

Wikimedia, Public Domain license by the late Kyrzayda Rodriguez

It is in this such catalogue of objects that we have the person of Kyrzayda Rodriguez. Kyrzayda was just a person trying hard to live well in her own right. She was a beautiful fashion blogger that looked good on anything she wore. Well, this was before she was diagnosed with stomach cancer, something that changed her entire life. She is dead now, this Kyrzayda. But given the resilience with which she fought to live while dying, the memory of her will forever be etched in the hearts of many. I am dedicating this post to her, so yes, a few of the next lines will be spent on discussing her biography and struggles as the object of science. Then, just beneath that, I will expound on the subject that drowned the object: Stomach cancer.

So please, hang in there.

The Object: Kyrzayda Rodriguez

Wikimedia, Public Domain license by the late Kyrzayda Rodriguez

Kyrzayda Rodriguez died at the age of 40. This is not the first thing you should know about her, but it's the only thing that matters now. But then, before 40, before death, Kyrzayda was a fashion blogger who inspired her little community of fans with impressive ensembles that were both daring, colourful, beautiful and playful all at once. Every each day, Kyrzayda ransacked the wardrobe of several fashion designers, donned on their clothes and posed in front of coffee shops, brick walls, beautiful interior decors and street graffiti.

In more ways than can be explained, this bold fashion designer was beautiful and she knew just what to do with her beauty. From tank tops to sleeky jeans to flimsy tops, body kissing gowns and loose, exquisite designs with precise contours, Kyrzayda looked good in anything.

But then, nature suddenly picked on her as one of the many victims to be put through the grueling experience if seeing their lives end before their very own eyes. She was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer sometimes last year. Although struck by this 'accidental' illness, the style blogger remained strong and she continued to do what she loved doing best: looking super awesome on Instagram.

This continued all through the time her body began to emaciate rapidly, all through the period of massive hair loss, all through the several chemotherapies she had to undergo. Through her journey to death, Kyrzayda began to teach more about life than about clothes; fans began to see that the essence of living was not all for wearing clothes, we only wear clothes so we can live and appreciate our naked skins more:

"Learn to embrace the little things in life like your sense to feel, see, and touch,” she wrote. “We get so distracted by what we wear, we forget to love the skin. Spend a little more time each day loving every inch of YOU!!” (Kyrzayda Rodriguez said so).

In time, the now emaciated blogger asked to stop the chemotherapies because they were taking more from than what they gave: “The chemo and radiation will be discontinued because it is not working the way I hoped it would,” Rodriguez wrote. “I have decided to stop these treatments so that I can enjoy the rest of my time with my friends and family and to be as pain free as possible.”

Soon after this, she died and left behind only the words spoken by others about her. Her only daughter's words will always fill in as the epoch of her existence like:

"Our hearts are broken to see you go. But we know you are no longer in pain and can now rest... Heaven has gained an Angel! We love you forever!”

The Subject: Stomach Cancer

Wikimedia by Samir Public Domain license

It's gross to think about it this way but the truth is Kyrzayda was killed by a slow, methodical assassin who she knew. So let's talk about him a little (this is yet another gross way of thinking but I can't help it). Like other terminal and non terminal diseases, stomach cancer does not just visit a person's body unless it is enticed by somebody or something.

Stomach cancer or gastric adenocarcinoma is not caused by any one thing. But for whatever reason, it happens when cells in the upper digestive system responsible for the digesting and processing of our food suddenly becomes cancerous and then grow into tumour. The entire process that leads to cancer in the stomach can go on for many years hence it is not usually detected right on time. What this means is that for the people who are affected by this rare tumour crisis, they mostly die from the oblivion that trail the condition.

Although stomach cancer cannot be easily detected or treated, there are certain factors that makes a person prone to it. Lymphoma which involves a concentration of blood cancer is one of these. Then there is the stomach infection H. pylori bacterial infections that, in its mildest form, leads to ulcer. Tumors in other parts of the digestive system and stomach polyps are other risk factors.

Hard as it may be to believe, race is also one causative factor. Those of Asian descent are prone to it. There are also genetic and age factors. And then, there is the bad drinking and eating habit. Symptoms of stomach cancer come in just about the same form as having ulcer or some other communicable disease. This is what it becomes even harder to recognize. Symptoms like nausea and vomiting, frequent heartburn, loss of appetite, constant bloating, early satiety (feeling full after eating only a little), jaundice can be mistaken for something else.

But there are the other staggering symptoms that calls one attention to the fact that something is amiss. They include excessive fatigue, stomach pain, which may be worse after meals, and a sudden weight loss. Stomach cancer is best treated when diagnosed early enough because then, one can be sure that it does not spread to the rest of the body.

Going by the topic and what has so far formed the content, one thing that becomes established is that the thrust of my discussion goes beyond Kyrzayda Rodriguez, beyond stomach cancer - these are just models for my personal assertion that touches on how a discourse on science should be well woven around the people, the subjects and objects that are regularly used as prototypes without which the significant leaps that have been made in the field would have been unrealised. Science has a life of its own splattered like a parasite into the existence of other people, and if we must pay here to science at all, then we must also recognize the hosts who are burdened with the task of feeding its ego.

References

https://people.com/health/instagram-blogger-kyrzayda-rodriguez-dies-stomach-cancer/amp/
https://www.healthline.com/health/gastric-cancer#outlook