Uncle, “I don’t have the money or connections to fight this battle, so I leave my faith with God”.

Uncle, “I don’t have the money or connections to fight this battle, so I leave my faith with God”.

I have been following your broadcasts for months now and I have always wanted to share my story, well here it is. Firstly, I pray that God will continue to bless you for the great work you all are doing, keep it up.

My name is Mrs Akinwale, from Ondo in Nigeria, have been married for 15 years now and we are blessed with four beautiful daughters and a son. I am a survivor. I had both my breast removed three years ago, at Ibadan.

I noticed a lump in both my Breasts in 2003 and was afraid to speak out, as my marriage was very young then. I was afraid my husband would leave me, as well as family pressure.

In 2007, I could not pretend to bear the pain any longer as breast-feeding was becoming impossible, and I was scared for my baby. I opened up to my Hubby. He was very angry, but later calmed down and has ever since been supportive. I went for check up immediately. And the lump was diagnosed as being cancerous and was advised to remove both lumps, which we did. I continued the after treatments until, my mother in Law persuaded me to try herbal treatment. This is where my nightmare started.

The herbalist told me to reduce the Chemo drugs I was given and increase the dose of the liquid like medicine the herbalist gave to me. At first the pains were reduced and the scare was healing. So I became convinced that the herbal drugs were working better than the chemo, so I stopped taking the chemo all together.

But after a couple of months, I noticed that my nipples were bleeding. I went to the herbalist, who said it was just the pores clearing up. He gave me some ointments to rub on it and some more liquid for the pores.

I was on this treatment for two weeks, after which the bleeding stopped, but I noticed my breast were getting bigger and started to hurt. I then decided not to tell my family about my issues again and went to the hospital. To my shock and horror, my doctor told me that since I stopped the Chemo I had developed another tumour, which had grown, and it also need removing.

And that the herbal medicines had expedited the growth of the tumour. I was then advised to remove both the breast (Mastectomy) if I want to live. I had to run around to borrow some money to remove both the breasts. But as am writing this letter I know that my end is coming very soon. I wanted to write you this letter to encourage you not to give up this message and fight.

I wish African women would stand for themselves when it comes to health matters. If I had listened to myself, I would be ok now. I don’t have the money or connections to fight this battle, so I leave my faith with God.

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