WHEN Mrs Bamidele Alabi felt a small lump in her left breast, she, as usual with many, mistook it for an ordinary boil. When the tumor grew bigger, she still believed she was treating a boil that would go away with a cocktail of antibiotics or be tolerated till it became ripe and rupture to much relief.
“My thought was that the boil would rupture and I would be relieved of pains and then move on with my life,” she related to Saturday Tribune during an interview.
But the self-diagnosis, also as usual, wasn’t only wrong but disappointed her, because the boil-like tumor, as in numerous cases like hers, turned out to be cancer, following the normal diagnosis procedure.
“I have no correct words now to describe how I received the news. It can only be likened to a death sentence,” she said, her visage bringing back the entirety of the agony that has plagued her soul since the “bad news” was broken to her by trained medical personnel.
Mrs Alabi, however, has a fighting chance to live, though cancer is still deemed a terminal disease, with no known cure. She got a huge encouragement from her doctor that she had a chance of surviving the disease if she could go for surgery in time and follow her post-surgery treatment religiously. Her hope was kindled.
In July 2017 after a series of tests, Mrs Alabi was operated upon, according to her, at the Air Force Base Hospital, Ikeja and she was later referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), also in Ikeja, for further treatment.
As of this time, Mrs Alabi thought she had won the battle against the terminal disease. Unfortunately, the tumor reappeared not long after on the same spot. And the doctor told her this time around that the cancer had spread to her lungs and would require urgent attention to prevent it from getting to other organs.
According to her medical report (dubbed a “To Whom It May Concern Letter”) signed by a clinical and radiation oncologist at LASUTH, Dr Biodun Popoola, Mrs Alabi’s histology shows invasive ductal carcinoma and immunohistochemistry, which means she is tested positive to Type 2 breast cancer.
The implication of the diagnosis is that she would need to undergo general chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy for her to be healed completely.
She has actually commenced the first line of treatment, including four courses of Adriamycin\Cyclophosphamide and one course of Paclitaxel, but the Targeted Therapy, known as IV Transtuzumab, is where the problem really lies now, according to her doctor.
The treatment requires huge financial implication, which Mrs Alabi, a retiree from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), and her husband, a former military officer, cannot shoulder.
“Where do we get the sum of N4.4 million? Cancer treatment is money-consuming. It is beyond what the average individual, let alone a poor person like me, can handle. It requires a series of tests and drugs with each costing a fortune. There is a particular drug I am asked to get at the cost of N11,000 and I need three of it.
“We have sold almost all our property, including cars and we are up to N2 million in debts, yet, I need N4.4 million to stay alive. This is outside of feeding and other essential things, including the school fees of two of our children in the university,” she lamented amidst sobs. “I am an electricity contractor but I have no stamina to work again and I’m always in pains. Whoever sees me for the first time would think I am in my late 70s whereas I’m just 55,” she added.
At this point in the conversation, there was a shocking confirmation of how depressing her health has become. Casually, Mrs Alabi pulled off some hairs from her head to demonstrate the damage the disease has done to her body.
Helpless and without help
To her credit, Mrs Alabi is not just folding her arms and moaning her fate. She had made moves to get help. She showed evidence of writing to the Lagos State government through the Ministry of Health, Agbado\Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area, where she lives, as well as many charity organisations. Sadly, there has been no cheering news from any of the quarters.
For example, a response to her letter for financial assistance from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, dated March 15, 2018 and signed by the Director of Medical Administration Training\Programmes, Dr O. M. Shokunbi, read in part: “I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your correspondence, dated 22nd February, 2018 on application for financial assistance. The ministry is concerned about your present health status but unable to accede to your request due to budgetary constraints. Please, be assured of the ministry’s best intentions.”
Similarly, her SOS to Agbado\Oke-Odo LCDA chairman, dated March 6, 2018 and received by his office on March 7, had not received any official response as of press time. A member of the House of Assembly representing the council area, Honourable Bisi Yusuf, was copied the letter.
Apart from obviously dying and sad, Mrs Alabi is confused. She is not only in excruciating pains, she is traumatised. She is worried that she might die if help does not come in time.
But as she was narrating her ordeal to Saturday Tribune, one question kept baffling her, that is, why is it difficult for Nigeria, via the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to cover cancer treatment and some other chronic ailments that are sending many Nigerians to their early graves?
According to her, virtually all major tests concerning cancer treatment are not covered by NHIS policy let alone drugs.
“When you go to public hospitals, they will be quick to refer you to private hospitals. They will tell you they don’t have facility for this and for that. They don’t have this drug or that drug. But we don’t know what they are doing with their annual budgets.
“Since I was operated on as NHIS subscriber under Defence Health Insurance Scheme, I was left to my fate. The tests and drugs are major issues when it comes to treatment of cancer. Imagine one test, which is called Fish Test, costs up to N150,000. Even the chemotherapy I am undergoing currently is palliative and not to terminate the disease. It is to kill all the cells (whether harmful or not) in the body so as to prevent cancerous ones from spreading,” she explained.
For her question on NHIS’ policy, the acting Executive Secretary of the agency, Mr Attahiru Ibrahim, had said recently that the agency would have loved to fully incorporate cancer treatment into the scheme but for lack of funds.
That was what he told the Project Pink Blue, a non-governmental organisation involved in cancer advocacy in Nigeria when it visited the agency recently.
Despite the setback, Mrs. Alabi is not backing down. She has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari as well as Professor Isaac Adewole, who is the Minister of Health; the Senate President, Bukola Saraki; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and all the 36 state governors, as well as public-spirited organisations and individuals to come to her aid.
“They should not let me die. I beg them in the name of God to help me. I can still do much for the country,” she pleaded as she fought back tears.
Understanding cancer
Cancer, according to experts, is when abnormal cells divide in an uncontrolled way and most of them start growing due to gene changes that happen over a person’s lifetime.
The commonest types of cancer among women not only in Lagos but also all over the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), are breast and cervical cancers while prostate cancer is for men. The disease has sent millions of sufferers, especially in low income countries, including Nigeria, to their early graves.
While cancer is said to be no respecter of a person’s age, sex and economic status, it is deemed curable, especially when presented early like that of Mrs Alabi. Experts have also identified tobacco smoking, drinking of alcohol, obesity, viruses, lack of exercise and exposure to carcinogenic products and elements as some lifestyle factors that could trigger the disease.
Last line: If touched by this story, Mrs Alabi can be reached on 0803 403 2757.
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