WeeklySA_AdminDETECTION :It is important for kids to be diagnosed early for effective treatment of the disease
By Thuli Zungu
Cancer has no mercy. It does not matter the age, race or gender. Nicola Hlongwane, 21, of Mamelodi who is a survivor of ovarian cancer says she was 15 when she discovered that she had the disease.
“I remember the beginning so clearly. It was towards the end of the year and I was in Grade 9.” Hlongwane says she had settled into adolescence and was participating in all the items the high school could offer.
“I was the prime picture and fit as a fiddle. Then out of nowhere, there was a weird pain in my lower abdomen, and my tummy just began expanding,” she says. For a week or so, she attributed it to period pains, and muscle cramps from exercising.
“Our family doctor said it was just a growth in my abdomen, most definitely benign, looking at my age, and booked me into a hospital in Pretoria to have it removed.” After surgery, it was established that she had a malignant tumour.
“After a whole lot of further tests and scans, I was told I had stage 2 germ cell ovarian cancer’’. She underwent chemotherapy for three months, and then started her remission journey on the 1st April 2011. It was a short encounter with the dreaded disease, but her world was completely flipped outside down.
During her treatment at the Little Company of Mary Hospital, she and her parents stayed at the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation SA house in Pretoria. Hlongwane says beyond the financial consequences, She underwent blood tests and scans and in the end the family was just never fully prepared for the journey that lay ahead.
She recalls sitting in the lounge as many families with very different backgrounds, enjoyed dinner, engaged in discussions and found joy in some of the little things they discussed. “It was a place where I was free to take off my wig and still feel absolutely normal.”
Looking back, there were a lot of untrue stereotypes surrounding cancer, and her story defied her community, she says. “It doesn’t target a particular race, age, gender or lifestyle. If discovered early especially at childhood, it can be cured,” she says. Hlongwane says cancer was a trying part of her story, but because of God’s grace, it has a happy ending. “Through God, I am more than a survivor – mentally, I’m a hero of the battle. I’m ready to conquer the world as a future Chartered Accountant and inspire other heroes to keep dreaming,” she adds.
Taryn Seegers, Communications Coordinator of CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation SA says September is an annual campaign worldwide to raise awareness of childhood cancer. There are many advances in paediatric oncology, yet cancer remains a leading cause of mortality in children, she says.
“It is important that children are diagnosed early for effective treatment of early-stage disease, which will translate into favourable outcomes and improved overall survival’’.
Seegers says many factors are responsible for delays in childhood cancer, including the child’s age, family’s socio-economic status, parental educational level, distance of residence from the hospital, cancer type, site, and stage.
Many children in low- and middle-income countries have poor access to hospitals, which in turn lack essential diagnostic tests, experience a shortage of nursing medical and surgical personnel, inadequate and erratic supply of basic pharmaceutical and chemotherapeutic agents, and an absence of radiotherapy, surgical and intensive care facilities.
As neonatal, infant and child health improves, communicable diseases, such as respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases, HIV-AIDS, and tuberculosis, are better controlled, she says. “It is important to focus on non-communicable diseases such as childhood cancer and identify these diseases early, have access to the correct diagnostics and therapeutics and ensure the availability of supportive care to improve overall survival of children with cancer,” Seegers says.
She says many caregivers are unemployed due to national lockdowns and fears of contracting Covid-19. “We should try to ensure children with cancer do not face further delays in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer during the global SARSCoV-2 pandemic.”
She encourages the community to be a voice of hope this month and collaborate with health care workers, non-profit organisations, and the Department of Health to spread the Siluan Warning Signs for early cancer diagnosis.
