By EBELE ORAKPO

Run For a Cure Africa (RFCA) was launched in Nigeria in 2009 to raise greater awareness of breast cancer in Africa through targeted education, free screenings and to alleviate the cost of treatment of women with breast cancer.

“We say Africa because essentially, we want to fight breast cancer in Africa, not just in Nigeria even though this is where the idea for fighting breast cancer was born but we understand that this is a disease that is quietly killing women throughout this continent and because there is such an emphasis on malaria and HIV, sometimes breast cancer is put by the side. For us, it is disheartening because if there is any disease that is treatable and curable in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is breast cancer.

The organisation was eaterblished based on my inspiration from my mother’s experience. In 2007, she was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer and she survived simply because we detected it on time. In addition to her, I also have two other aunts that had breast cancer and they are also survivors. It is not only because of when it was detected but their access to treatment as well. So that was the inspiration behind starting this programme and our organisation.

Why breast cancer in particular?

Like I said, because I have a personal experience, and I was able to see first-hand how you can treat it if you find it on time so that was why we focused on breast cancer.

How do you get the patients, do you go on the streets to look for them?

(Laughs) Essentially, what we do is we hold breast cancer screening exercises for free. We have three main objectives – to educate, to screen and to treat. Mainly, we educate women on what breast cancer is so as to dispel the myths associated with the disease.

A lot of women are suffering or wondering about this disease but because of the myths surrounding it, they would rather keep quiet. They would not ask questions or make enquiries, so we are hoping we will get a chance to educate them and help them understand that it is nothing they have done per se that has made them get the disease. There are several reasons why.

So what do you do with those diagnosed with breast cancer after screening?

Education and screening kind of go hand in hand. For women that are found to have breast cancer during the screening exercises or from referrals from doctors at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), we are able to gauge a level of support and in most cases, we are able to subsidize or cover the cost of their breast cancer treatment which is about N1 million per person.

Until they are cured?

You know, we endeavour to support them throughout their treatment; sadly, we have lost women to this fight and their treatment has been cut short because of that reason but definitely, we want to help them throughout the entire process.

What of those who present themselves at the end stage?

That is why we are trying to raise awareness so as not to have women coming when it is too late. We want them to come once they find the breast lump; we want them to do self breast examinations so we can avoid having them come very late because breast cancer is 98 per cent treatable when it is detected early and we find that a lot of women delay coming in for treatment until it gets too late and that is where we are trying to help.

How successful has the programme been?

We determine our success by how many women we are able to reach and in that respect, I will say it has been very successful.

Through our programme of creating more awareness, women are being more proactive about their breast health which is important; women are coming out and talking. When we started, none of the women we were supporting was willing to come out and talk but now, we are finding that women are coming out to talk about it and are not afraid and so for us, we count that as a huge victory.

In our first screening exercise, we had a handful of women show up despite advertising the programme but at our last screening exercise, we had 350 women come out to participate so that is success. Last year, we were able to support close to 30 women through their breast cancer journey. We have some survivors and like I said, we have some women that are still going through treatment and we lost some of them as well but even at that, the fact that these women have come out and we have women that can say “I started my treatment in Nigeria and I completed my treatment in Nigeria and I am still alive,” we count that as a huge success.

The doctor that we invited for the symposium last year said the way they were able to increase the survival rate for women with breast cancer was by having other women come out and say ‘I had this and I survived it.’ The reason why women do not come forward is because they don’t know anybody that had the disease and survived it and so, fear and so many different things keep them inside and so for us, having ambassadors to be able to say this can happen if you are proactive, is great.

How do you raise funds to be able to support these women?

We raise funds through individual sponsorship and corporate sponsorship.

Our sponsors include Cadbury Bournvita, Chevron Nigeria, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Transocean, Nigerstar7, Halliburton, The Palms and Strategic Media Solutions.

“Breast cancer affects all women; it’s not a social class disease as a wealthy person can get breast cancer the same way as somebody who is impoverished.

The difference though is that a lot of people who are wealthy can seek treatment outside and a lot of people do. It is not that it’s a bad thing but when a lot of women who may not be as lucky realise that they are not going through this alone, it is helpful to them to know that they can fight and there is a place where they can fight too,” said Shelancia Daniel, a volunteer organizer at RFCA.

What has been your experience with RFCA?

Justina Lucky, a survivor said: “I got to know RFCA in 2012 and since then, they have been sponsoring me. They have supported me through my surgery, chemotherapy and I just finished my radiotherapy. My boss whom I work with introduced me to the NGO. They have been helpful.

What is your advice to women?

I am still telling other women to come out and talk about breast cancer. So many women are dying in silence. A lot of them won’t come out; they say they don’t want to be seen. I believe that when God is on your side, nothing will overcome you. I give God all the glory.