By Gabriel Olawale

A professor of Medical Oncology, Prof. Julie Gralow, has said that for Nigeria to reduce incidence of cancer,  the country must bring survivorship to the center stage. Speaking at the 2nd Omolara Jolaoso Memorial Lecture to commemorate the 2016 World Cancer Day,   Gralow, of the Department of Medicine, University of Washington and Director of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in the US,  said presently the US has over 14 million cancer survivors while the cancer death rate  dropped 20 percent since 1990. She added that the five years survivor rate for  cancer patients exceeded 90 percent.

“To achieve success in cancer management, survivorship needs to take center stage. Prevention, screening and early detection are key but do no good if we don’t have treatment because the person may eventually die. After treatment hopefully we get them cured, but we need to focus on survivorship and how to make them comfortable for as long as they live.

“So survivorship is a critical component to a comprehensive cancer control programme and why we are having decrease in death rate is a combination of early detection and better treatment.” Further, Gralow said the establishment of the office of survivorship by the National Cancer Institute in 1996 helped in enhancing the link and quality of life of survivors, and also improved research.

She however, called on stakeholders to create more awareness which remained a distinctive face of cancer treatment. “Each patient should be given survivorship care plan and this should be reimbursed by insurance and care must be accessible to all patients. “Health professional education, patient and family education, psychosocial report, long term treatment complication, women health, lifestyle modification, monitoring and documentation need to be encouraged.

“We can do a lot to help cancer survivorship, by encourage survivor to live a healthy lifestyle, and this can help to improve physical and emotional life. Exercise is also encouraging because studies have proved it may help decrease the chances of dying after diagnosis of breast cancer. Earlier, the President, Lander 88, Mr. Soji Adekogbe noted that the memorial lecture was to immortalise the late Omolara Jolaoso who passed on December 2014 and to create awareness about cancer prevention.

Executive Director, Breast Cancer Initiative, East Africa Inc., Ms. Phillipa Kibugu-Decuir who was diagnosed of breast cancer in 1994 regretted that while she was able to make it till today, her sister earlier diagnosed of the same illness was unable to survive it. “I was diagnosed early and I was undergoing treatment in USA, I had more than seven doctors, I had support, I had medicine and insurance which keep me alive till today and I believe every cancer patient deserves that.”

Recounting her own experience, President Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria, Mrs. Betty Anyanwu -Akeredolu, said: “I accepted mastectomy (total removal of the affected breast) without hesitation and I am now living a healthy life style.”

Giving account of his 34 years in cancer management at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH,  Prof. Remi Ajekigbe, who is currently the Head of Department, Oncology & Radiotherapy, said that despite the fact that breast is an external organ, organ that people see and touch, many breast cancer patients still present late.

“Cancer is a very frightful word, not a word everybody wants to hear, but the most important thing in cancer management is early detection, and to achieve early detection, everybody has to be aware. Cancer of the breast is the commonest cancer in Nigeria. “What is wrong in checking our breast every day? When you discover anything unusual you give a shout. Let your doctor know,” he said.