When you first meet Bonnie Kam it is hard to believe that she is 40 years old and has been battling breast cancer for the past 4 years. She looks young, vibrant and healthy. At 36 she underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, yet her cancer continued spreading into her bones. Despite her doctors’ best efforts, her back and pelvis have grown so weak and been so damaged that she barely has any spine left. She continues to fight the cancer with radiation and light doses of chemotherapy every 2 months. She practices meditation and ChiGong exercise to help her overall health. Despite everything, she remains positive and in fact told me she feels lucky. She has a beautiful 9 year old child and a supportive and loving family by her side. Her advice to others battling cancer is to make sure that you enjoy life as much as possible, spend time with those you love and fight as hard as you can to live.
Bonnie Kam
Eleanor Fung was in shock when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 at age 58, she underwent a mastectomy and radiation treatments. She has had a successful and full recovery. Years before her own illness her father had been sick and passed away. After his death, Eleanor found great comfort and support from the support groups sponsored by the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society. Once she had completely recovered from her treatments she decided to volunteer to help others that weren’t as fortunate as she was. She is now very conscious of living a healthy and mindful life.
Eleanor Fung
Alice Cheung is a remarkable woman, she has taken a great tragedy in her life and turned it into something positive. Alice grew up with a great passion for language and education, her dream was to become an English teacher. In 1983 she found herself newly married and had just embarked on her teaching career when she was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer. She was 25 years old. It was stunning for her to be diagnosed with cancer at such a young age and at this time in Hong Kong there was still an enormous stigma attached to having cancer. Multiple rounds of radiation therapy left her with terrible pain and permanently effected her speech. Her dream of teaching was over, as it was too difficult for her to speak for long periods of time. She had great support and encouragement from her family and doctor (one of the founders of the HKACS). Without hesitation she switched gears and pursued a career in teaching administration. Alice was one of the first people to speak out as a cancer survivor in Hong Kong and continues to be an advocate for cancer patients. She is a tireless volunteer, selflessly helping others towards a common goal, to live a good life.
Alice Cheung
Nairobi
This was my third trip to the African continent in 6 months. I had spent a scant 30 hours in Cairo and an all too brief 10 days in Cape Town earlier in the year, but those places were not the Africa I had envisioned as a child. Sitting on the front porch of Jane Newman’s home in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi and watching the sunset over the Ngong Hills was certainly the Africa that I had seen in my mind. Jane is the founder and director of the Thorn Tree Project. She lives in Kenya half the year working with the Samburu people of northern Kenya to help them to improve their lives by providing education for their children. When Jane started the program in 2001 only 130 children attended primary school, today more than 1100 children attend primary school and 400 more attend preschools, all funded by the Thorn Tree Project. An additional initiative added in 2006 funds over 100 students to attend secondary school. These programs are making a measurable impact in the quality of life for the people of this very poor and marginalized area of Africa. It is inspirational to see what one person (well, one very smart, resourceful and determined person) can accomplish. Jane is also very generous and insisted we (myself and my husband Chris) stay with her in Karen and also spend a few days being totally pampered at her home on Lamu island. We are forever grateful to Jane for her for her kindness, support and generosity during our time in Kenya.
Driving into downtown Nairobi the next morning I was struck by the rutted paths carved into the red earth along the side of the road from the constant shuffle of foot traffic. We drove past Kibera which is the second largest urban slum in Africa. Most of it’s 2 million residents are extremely poor and lack most basic services including electricity and running water.
Main road from Karen into Nairobi
Along the side of the road
We were meeting with Fred Odhiambo of KETCA, the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance. He gave us a bit of background information about cancer care in Kenya. Cancer awareness and education is minimal here and most people are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease. In Kenya, as in other countries with limited awareness, there is a heavy stigma surrounding cancer. There are very few facilities for diagnosis and treatment and no specialized oncology hospitals. Those with financial means leave the country to receive treatment, but for most a diagnosis of cancer is a death sentence. Fred was kind enough to arrange for us to meet with two women who were undergoing treatment.
Rosemary Okeyo
When Rosemary Okeyo first learned she had breast cancer she considered it a death sentence and refused all treatment. She was 47, married with 5 daughters and 1 grand daughter. Her sister-in-law convinced her to have a mastectomy and to start chemotherapy. When I met her in Nairobi she had just come from Kenyatta hospital where she had her blood tested before deciding to continue treatment with a third round of chemo. She didn’t think it was worth it, that she was going to die anyway. I told her my story. She didn’t believe that it was possible, everyone she has ever known who has had cancer has died. I was the first cancer survivor she ever met. She also had no idea that mastectomy bras or breast prostheses even existed. I had brought 50 bras and 25 prostheses with me to donate to the Tanzania Breast Cancer Foundation. We had moved into a hotel in downtown Nairobi for a few days, so I brought Rosemary up to our room and helped fit her with 2 bras and a prosthesis. The sad, defeated woman that I had met just a half hour before was gone, replaced by a dancing, singing and smiling Rosemary. A woman with a renewed spirit and a will to fight to survive, because now she knew people do survive cancer. I couldn’t stop smiling for the next 24 hours. I’m not sure which one of us was happier, and it doesn’t really matter. It was a really good day.
Stella
We were introduced to Stella at St. Mary’s Mission Hospital which is located on the edge of Kibera. When we met her last January, Stella was 43 years old and had been battling stage 3 breast cancer since 2008. She is the single parent of a 15 year old boy. She has had multiple surgeries, chemotherapy treatments and radiation, but the cancer always returns. She has exhausted whatever money she had, and now relies on donations to pay for her treatments. When we met her she had been in the hospital for 2 weeks receiving chemo and had one more week to go in this round of treatment. Her son was away at boarding school (a relative pays his way). She hid her illness from him until recently when she finally told him the truth because she was not sure how much time she had left.