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my life was headed. I went through a
dark time. There were days where I
considered suicide, but somehow faith
pulled me through. We don’t talk about
how much cancer affects us as families.
There was friction at home from the
grave weight that the disease had; it
was hard for all of us to get through. I
learnt to give myself time to go through
everything I was feeling. To anyone
suffering from cancer, give yourself
time to grieve and be kind to yourself.
Now that I’m here, my fight with cancer
feels like a memory and I look back
in awe of the mountain I climbed.
I’m healthy, but I still carry a lot of
emotional turmoil from my experience.
I’m back at varsity, in my second year,
and I’m a brand ambassador for Check
Know Prevent. I love that they’re giving
support to people who suffer from
cancer and making the journey easier
for them. My biggest passion is creating
awareness about this disease. I went
through it and by the grace of God, I’m
here and looking forward to a bright
future. I’m thankful for it!”Rhodes University to study journalism
and was excited but anxious about my
first year away from home. I lived at the
top of the hill and didn’t think anything
about my back aching or my hands
shaking. I just thought it was stress
but when I saw a reddish rash on the
side of my left breast, I got concerned.
I was going home for the June holidays,
so I told myself that I would go for my
regular check-up then.
In July, I had a mammogram and
biopsy done, which showed that I had
a re-occurrence of cancer, not on my
breast this time, but my back. During
surgery, they cut a lot from my back, like
three-thirds of my left-hand side. They
had to make sure that the cancer didn’t
come back. They even thought of taking
out a rib, but luckily they didn’t. I had
chemo and radiation this time around
because of the severity of the cancer.
I tried to be positive, but it was
tough. I dropped out of varsity, which
was frustrating, because I had already
taken a gap year to focus on treatment
and getting better before. I already feltleft behind by my peers. Chemo was the
hardest thing I’ve ever had to endure
in my life. I didn’t know what to expect
because I had heard horror stories. I did
chemo once a week for three months and
all I was thinking was ‘can it be done so
that I can get back to my life’. My body
was just tired. I was in constant pain and
a lot more irritable than I usually am. I
was trying to keep it together but a lot of
people wanted to treat me like I wasn’t
sick. The fact is, I was sick and some days
I just wanted to be sad.
When you’re undergoing chemo,
your body’s in so much pain and
turmoil that even doing the simplest
thing like picking up a glass hurts. I felt
like I was losing myself. I had the least
harsh chemo but I still lost my hair
and eyebrows, and as a young woman,
that affects you. I had a super support
system: my friend, Alex, her mom and
my mom also cut off their hair. They
chose to go through that pain with me.
I deleted all my social media accounts
because it hurt to see other people
progressing and I didn’t know whereTRUE STORY