Health is wealth. I grew up to hear that phrase and live by it.
Truly, health is the greatest wealth one can acquire in life. When one part of the body is sick, the whole human system will suffer the pain, physically and emotionally.
I am glad to be remembered by the weekly prompt that October is the month set aside for creating awareness of breast cancer.
I have heard of breast cancer ever since I was ten years old, then in primary five.
I did not understand my class teacher's explanation, but I had the feeling that it was a dreadful disease.
So I asked my mum at home who explained it better to me.
In my life, I have come in contact with two women who suffered breast cancer. Both of them now live with one breast, the affected breast was obviously cut off to avoid the spread of the disease.
The first is a family friend.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer after giving birth to her second child, we prayed every morning that God should heal her.
But in the end, she still had to go under the knife, and one side of her breast was cut off. It was a horrible news to us.
She later had two more children and breastfed them with that one breast.
Now, this can be very difficult because even women with two breasts at some point still get tired of breastfeeding their baby.
The other person is a young lady in her early thirties. I met her during an enlightenment campaign for women's health.
She narrated her story to us. Her story of how she has been stigmatized by both men and women.
They gossiped and made fun of her because she had only one breast. Men will leave her because they don't want to marry a lady with one breast.
I loved her courage and respected her a lot when she said that marriage was no longer her problem.
“I am now focused on my health and self-development”, she had said. And I encouraged her , to enjoy her life to the fullest because she deserves it.
Cancer of the breast is a terrible disease, and every man and woman must be sensitized on the causes, prevention, and early symptoms of breast cancer, irrespective of status—single or married.
That persistent lump in the breast is the first sign, and it can be discovered through breast self-examination. So as to treat it at that early stage, without losing a breast.
With love💕
Thank you for reading through, and for your time and support.