Here's what you need to know about breast cancer

DW (English)

In Kenya, where breast cancer remains the most common cancer among women, Mwende Mutiso's journey shows what it means to defy a potential death sentence.

Transcript

00:00What if the lump you ignore in your breast today becomes the battle of your life tomorrow?

00:05Did you know that for every 10 women diagnosed with cancer, at least two are battling breast

00:11cancer, making it the most common cancer among women in Kenya?

00:17The first question I asked the doctor was, what's my prognosis?

00:22And the doctor told me, I think you have another one year with us.

00:30So we are back in our matatu, which is a judgment-free zone.

00:41When did you first suspect that something was wrong?

00:43My breast cancer journey starts way in 2014. I attended a medical camp and there was a breast

00:50cancer survivor who showed us how to do self-breast examination. From then I just started doing,

00:56you know, the self-breast examination every once a month or so. In December 2015 I remember feeling

01:02something in my breast. I was told it's hormonal imbalance. From one hospital I was given antibiotics,

01:09but when I went to now one of the big hospitals I was told that it was a lump and I needed to do a test.

01:16Doctor advised I just do a surgery to remove the lump. So I got the diagnosis after the surgery was

01:25already done and I was told I had something called ductal carcinoma in situ, which is basically stage

01:32zero breast cancer. This is how you do a self-breast exam. Stand in front of a mirror and look at the

01:39size, the shape and the skin. Then using your fingertips and in circular motion, start from

01:45the outside of the breast going in towards the nipple. Don't forget the space between the breast

01:52and the armpit where the lymph nodes are. Then lie down and repeat the process. What to look out for?

01:58A lump that feels hard and is round, discharge and skin dimpling. Maybe walk us through the treatment plan

02:05in that surgery. So the first time I got the cancer I had now the lumpectomy which wasn't done properly

02:13then followed by a mastectomy and removal of the whole breast and then after the surgery I was given,

02:20I was put on hormonal therapy, a drug called tamoxifen, you know, and I was supposed to take it

02:28one tablet a day for five years. Yeah, so and I continued with that treatment till around

02:35end of 2018, I noticed that I had an alarm underneath my mastectomy scan. I was sent to do ultrasound

02:44and co-biopsy which both showed that the co-biopsy showed that the cancer had come back.

02:52And so I did another scan, a full body PET scan and it showed that the cancer had not only gone to my

03:00lymphatic system but it had also gone to one of my lungs and at that time so I was re-diagnosed with

03:08stage four breast cancer. And I remember this was just a day before my 27th birthday. The first question

03:15I asked the doctor was what's my prognosis because I knew stage four is not curable and the doctor told

03:24me, hmm, I think you have another one year with us. Breast cancer usually starts in the milk ducts

03:33and can spread to the nearby tissue forming a visible lump. When it spreads to the lymph nodes

03:38and other organs it is called metastasis and can be life-threatening. Initially I didn't want to take

03:44treatment because I knew how chemotherapy and radiotherapy can take a toll on somebody's body

03:52and it's also expensive. So I got that recurrence. Now the third recurrence, when I was in the process

04:00of now going back for a treatment, I got pregnant. So you have stage four breast cancer and you find out

04:07you're pregnant. How does this affect your treatment? So I had to first go to my doctor. You know,

04:13you can't do chemotherapy during the first trimester. So she explained to me that I, you know,

04:20my options say that I'm eliminating the pregnancy and if I was to keep her, I had to start chemotherapy

04:27after the first trimester to just ensure that the progression was not much. It was actually very

04:33smooth and I have to say I felt even much more healthier than I was before. So I carried the baby to

04:40term and I also breastfed her till she was about eight and a half months old. That's wonderful.

04:48What was your source of strength? My source of strength I have to say was God and her, you know,

04:54looking at her little feet and hands that gave me strength. It still does to date. The support system

05:02which is made up of my family, other cancer survivors, caregivers, you know, you cannot do this alone.

05:09Let's take a question from the DW Africa Facebook community. Mansour from Yola, Nigeria asks,

05:16how can men prevent breast cancer? 0.5 to 1% of men get breast cancer. How to prevent it? One is to

05:25reduce the known risks of breast cancer that is reducing alcohol and cigarette smoking. Regular

05:32screening is important, especially for individuals who have family history of breast cancer. And also

05:40awareness of the danger signs is important. Mwende, thank you so much for sharing your story. It's been

05:46so inspiring. If you're watching this and you've gone through the same or you have a loved one who's

05:51going through the same, share your story. Someone is listening and needs to hear it.

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