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– Cancer Survivor, Roxanne Singh tells her story
By Joel Vogt
A diagnosis of cancer can be devastating, heart-wrenching and most times debilitating, causing many people to lose hope and give up the battle. While for some people, the continuous fight may be considered as a life-changing experience.
For cancer survivor and a mother of four daughters, 53-year-old Roxanne Singh, who hails from New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop on the West Coast of Demerara and has been a seamstress for some nine years; cancer was not the end, but a life changing experience.
Ann, as she is better known as, recalled her cancer journey started in June of 2017, just close to her 50th birth anniversary when she felt a sharp pain in her left side breast and upon checking, she found a lump and immediately went online and do some research on breast lumps.
Being fearful of the possibility of having breast cancer, she then made an appointment to see a doctor at the Cancer Institute of Guyana in Georgetown, the following week after the discovery of the lump in her breast. “A couple of days later, after a few thoughts, I decided it was nothing to worry about and I cancelled the appointment. With each passing week, I noticed an increase in the size of the lump, so in August I finally decided to go and get a check up,” she said.
During her appointment, she was sent to do a breast ultrasound followed by a mammogram, which later came back with possible malignant findings in the left side breast and was then sent to do a biopsy. While being nervous and waited two weeks for her results, Ann said she endured those two weeks full of sleepless nights and days of having no appetite to eat and an overwhelming feeling. “When the two weeks were up, I finally got a call on September 5, 2017 that my results are ready to pick up. I went and uplift it and took it to my doctor with high hopes of all being well, since I have no family history of cancer. Unfortunately, that same hope was broken when he told me that the result is positive and that I have stage two breast cancer,” Ann told the Village Voice adding that she was shocked and felt numb after hearing the results.
“For a few seconds time stopped and I had no response whatsoever. So many thoughts ran through my mind in that few seconds and I was brought back to reality when my daughter shook me and asked if I was okay,” she added. The breast cancer survivor also noted that tears instantly came to her eyes upon hearing the traumatic news and up to this day, she could not remember anything else that was said to her that day.
Challenges experienced as a then cancer victim
Ann’s challenges began when she had to undergo a surgery at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital when her haemoglobin was 6.0 which, she said, could have caused her to fall into a coma; so she had to get four units of O-positive blood. “Getting donors weren’t easy. I remember my daughter put it up on Facebook asking for donors and I was amazed at the responses we got. On October 3, I had my mastectomy surgery, which was successful,” Ann related. Her second challenge as a then breast cancer victim was the chemotherapy. After her third of eight sessions of chemotherapy, the doctors were unable to find veins on her hands. “I remember at one point my vein collapsed and the doctors had to stop the chemo. For me, it was more of a personal challenge even though I had a lot of support from family and friends… I knew about cancer, but knowing was not enough due to my anxiety level was always at peak causing my blood pressure to rise.”
Furthermore, she noted that fear was her biggest challenge, not knowing if, how and when she was going to recover. “The struggle was very real and more so, tough. Many days I wanted to give up, but with hope I conquered,” she said. Battling one of the biggest health issues, Ann also noted that she had to change her daily diet of meat, dairy products and sweet, to organic products, fruits, vegetables and no processed foods.
“My diet changed a lot. I knew myself as eating anything that can be eaten to eating what the doctors had ordered me to eat. I used to drink coffee with sugar, now I can’t and I only drink herbal tea such as soursop and moringa. Thankfully, by God’s grace here I am still alive without those things, feeling much healthier and I’m now a fruit lover, something I never liked,” she explained.
Ann’s chemotherapy process of eight sessions began in December of 2017 and ended July of 2018, a period of seven months. After concluding her chemotherapy, she was placed on 25 sessions of radiation therapy, one of the main treatments for cancer. “After my first session of chemo, I lost all my hair. I was completely bald and this was also one of my biggest challenges. I couldn’t watch myself being bald, so I cried continuously for almost a month and I didn’t even eat for a few days; I was devastated.”
Support
During her fight to recover, Ann said the continuous support she received from family, doctors, nurses and friends was tremendous and beyond her expectations. “Without support you can never make it through this battle. I had an outpouring of support, a lot of prayers from family and friends, especially from my four daughters who were my tower of strength, the ones who kept pushing me forward when I wanted to give up and my sisters.”
She added that she remembers one time she was crying uncontrollably, and her daughter, who resides in New York (NY), called trying to stop her from crying and her 5-year-old grandson at that time, told her, “grandma we do not give up, we have to keep rolling” and those few words made a big impact on her life.
On several occasions, Ann felt like giving up and eventually she had given up hope due to the constant physical pain, thoughts of dying and emotions; but eventually hope was restored. “After giving up hope, I met a cancer survivor Mrs Munesar who inspired me with her story as a survivor, that gave me a glimpse of hope and she would usually pray with me often for faith, strength and courage and with determination I won. Not forgetting my children who also gave me hope and I knew I had to be strong and fight this battle for them,” she expressed.
Back on her feet
Although she is cancer free, she still has to take a hormonal treatment with the use of Letrozole medication, which will last for a period of five years. She started on September 8, 2018. “I’m Estrogen Receptor positive, hence the reason for five years hormonal treatment; so I’m using one Letrozole tablet every day and one calcium tablet alternates days for 5 years. The reason for calcium is because Letrozole weaken the bones and it becomes brittle,” she disclosed.
Ann also added that she has to go every three months for check-ups and if any findings, she would have to do further testing, but because of the current COVID-19 pandemic, she has not gone for regular check-ups. Asked how has life been now for her since she has defeated breast cancer, she said: “Well, I’m happy that I’m in remission, I’m stronger than I have ever been, but life is much more fragile now. I thank God everyday for this second chance and I’m making the best out of every day.”
Ann said even though she is not 100 percent better, she tries doing her usual sewing now and then, and her health is her number one priority, and she is maintaining a healthy diet with daily exercises and doing all she can to keep her stress levels down.
Her words of encouragement to breast cancer patients are: “Be strong and anchor in hope and faith. Pray and keep praying because prayers can move mountains. We are in it to end it. We are in this together. A lot of people do not want others to know about their sickness, but cancer is real, it has no age or gender and when diagnosed with it, you would need all the love and support you can get from family and friends. I was fortunate to have an entire social network praying for me.” Every year, across the world, the month of October is being observed as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, aiming to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care of the disease.