By ZENZILE DLAMINI
THE 22nd of OCTOBER 2022 will go down the historical books of the Lebowakgomo based private hospital, Medleb after the centre hosted it successful inaugural Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign.
With October dubbed as the Cancer Month, Medleb under their manager, Phumzile Mnqayi and her dedicated staff members also came to the party in an effort to increase the awareness regarding the early detection and screening of cancer on both men and women.
One speaker after another, the special guest shared their experience and expertise about the topic of the day, however it was Breast Cancer survivors, Bobby and Nkateko Hlabangwane, aka Shamila whose heart-rending experiences touched many.
Both shared their respective journeys to the attendees. Shamila was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer and Mr Bobby was fighting breast cancer. Different journeys to recovery, yet their stories were full of resilience, courage and perseverance
Shamila shared on how she was told by the doctors to pray for “wisdom” because her condition was a medical shock as different specialists couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her back in 2012.
“Numerous tests were conducted on me, and finally after doing a bone marrow biopsy the results came back and confirmed that I was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer which is well known as chronic lymphocytic leukimeia. To my shock, I was told that I needed a donor amongst my siblings or from the national registry,” remises Shamila.
To her surprise, Shamila said little did she know that the “wisdom” she was once told to pray for, was her own brother named Wisdom who was her match.
Today Shamila has been cancer free for ten years and she continues to be a living testament that indeed you can overcome cancer and continue to live you to the fullest.
On the other hand, Bobby story tracks back all the way to 2006 but it was up until 2008 when his wife took him to the doctor and that is when it was confirmed that he had breast cancer.
“After the doctor recommended that I must go to consult with a surgeon who later reconfirmed that I was indeed diagnosed with breast cancer. I was still in denial because of my belief was that breast cancer only affects women,” recalled Bobby.
In the end Bobby had to life with the fact that he has been diagnosed and for his life’ sake he had to start his treatment journey.
“I met a man in Polokwane who just recovered from breast cancer and he advised me that in order to win the battle against cancer, I needed to get my mental state right as breast cancer is full of mind games and psychological torture and today here I am fully recovered and survived breast cancer,” he said.
Mnqayi was ecstatic about the event, saying: “October marks the annual breast cancer awareness month in which a nationwide drive by public and private healthcare institutions aims to educate communities about breast cancer. Today’s event here was all about that, and we are excited as Medleb that we have had a very successful event as the turn up was good.”
Mnqayi admitted that they did not have enough time to reach the majority of community members due to time constrains as the preparations were done during normal work time which coincided with normal challenges of running the business which made it difficult to struck the balances.
“This however serves as a wakeup call because it will help us to start our planning come next year as we plan to have a bigger event as we plan to reach more people even from outside Lebowakgomo,” said Mnqayi.
Among special individuals who graced the occasion as speakers include Oncologist Dr Moyaba, Radiologist Dr Sihlangu, Clinical Psychologist Dr Ramaboea. Early activities on the day include Fun Walk, Egg Race and Sack Race
The event was also made possible by sponsors such as Old Mutual, Metropolitan, Work SA Emergency Medical Services from Mokopane, Medleb’s neighbours Necrom Property Management, Limvo, Path P Laboratories, Lebowakgomo oldies, KSD charity drive, LANCET Laboratories and LIMVO.
To catch the repeat of LIVE radio interviews about this event, tune on to Naka Online Radio on Friday, October 28 between 6 and 8pm. The link is https://nakaradio.airtime.pro
