Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu
| credits:
| credits:
Betty
Anyanwu-Akeredolu, 60, recently celebrated 16 years as a breast cancer
survivor. She is the founder of Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria and
wife of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu, former president of Nigeria Bar
Association. In this interview with ADEOLA BALOGUN, she shares her unique cancer story and how she was able to survive it
As someone who suffered cancer 16 years ago, how did you then feel celebrating 60?
I felt highly honoured as so many people
came. The beauty of it was that we had mix grill of guests, the high,
the low and the very low. Physically challenged community, the deaf,
which I am very much attached to, came because one of my adopted sons is
deaf. I shed tears but the tears were of joy; it is like Nigerians are
beginning to embrace my story because so many people came just to see
this woman who had survived breast cancer for 16 years. They felt it was
unheard of because they had only heard of people who didn’t make it.
Probably you shed tears when you remembered the first time you were diagnosed with cancer 16 years ago.
Yes because it’s like a flashback; it
turned out to be like a feeling that you surmounted the odd. There are
ways you can express emotion; when you feel sad, you cry and when you
feel joy, you also cry. I cried because I felt overjoyed. It could be
emotional because my husband was there, so many important personalities
were there and they were saying it’s okay. I would say all that combined
and made me cry a little.
Did you do the surgery and all the treatment in Nigeria?
Yes, I did everything in Nigeria and
people get surprised when I tell them that. That tells you that the
capacity is here. What we lack are the enabling environment and
infrastructure to work.
If you had cancer and survived 16 years ago, why are people still dying of the disease today?
That’s also one of the reasons I felt
that Nigerians are beginning to be aware. What came up that day, I know
it was going to be a talk of town and that they would talk about it for a
long time. We are now spreading the word that being diagnosed with
cancer is not a death sentence and secondly there are certain steps to
take to survive it. When you asked why people still die, it’s due to
ignorance; the information hasn’t permeated to the nooks and crannies of
the society. We still need to do a lot more to make people realise that
breast cancer is a medical issue. It is not spiritual attack or juju
because you need to understand what the problem is. If you don’t know
what is worrying you, then anything goes. So many people will ask to you
to go to one church, they would pray for you and the lump in your
breast will disappear but anyone who understands what breast cancer is
will tell you it’s a lie. So there was no better forum for that message
to be delivered and it was wonderfully delivered by a medical doctor who
has been working with us for over 10 years. It is deeply entrenched in
our people to be superstitious about breast cancer and you need to flush
that out and this can be done by awareness creation. It is awareness
programme that is supported with funds, not mouth alone. Government and
well-meaning Nigerians should fund that but the government is not really
getting it.
Before you were diagnosed 16 years ago, were you checking your breasts for lumps?
Definitely not. Often times, you have
experiences that change your perception about everything; you have
experience that wakes up something in you which you never knew you had.
My experience awakened so many things in me that I didn’t know I had,
for example, public speaking and writing. I know if I didn’t have breast
cancer, I probably would just be jumping over the place but I am also
thankful that I had the inspiration to share the experience of my
survival for the public to learn from. Probably some women who had lumps
in their breasts but would not go to hospital would change their mind
when they heard that the lumps are always painless initially until six
months after when you have a full blown infection. The fact that I was
able to come out makes me very proud; I am not ashamed of it. I don’t
think I am the only one; there are many Nigerian women who had
successful treatment and are doing very well but they decided to keep
quiet. I don’t think that is the best way to live, as one of my children
would always say, we should come out more. That is the difference
between us and the white people; their life is just like a book that you
can open and read. When my cancer picture was shown that day, people
were shocked to their marrows. Nobody knew; in fact, my husband and my
kids didn’t know about that photograph until when I started compiling my
book. The time I was diagnosed, I didn’t know anyone but I knew that a
time would come when saying it by words of the mouth would not be
enough. That was why I took the picture then because a picture says a
thousand words. Let me tell you something, when I was diagnosed, I
didn’t know anyone. I just went to UCH; all the information I got was
from television documentaries. Then, we had subscription to the cable
television and the very first time I had the lump, I was on an annual
leave and I was just loafing around. When I felt the lump, I didn’t go
to the hospital immediately because I was very scared. I was asking
myself, why should this happen to me? Within a week, I had shrunk. I
just tuned the cable television and it was Rolanda’s Show titled, ‘This
Programme can save your life’ and it was about breast cancer. They
showed pictures of women victims and every stage of the diagnoses and
treatment was documented with pictures. That gave me the idea to
document my own too and from watching the programme, I made up my mind
that if what I was feeling turned out to be cancer, I was going to
survive it just as the women survivors I watched on the cable television
programme. The next day, I just went to UCH instead of our family
doctor because I was very careful.
You did not tell your husband?
I couldn’t tell and that was why I
didn’t go to our family doctor too because he would eventually tell my
husband. It was after the confirmation that I was able to tell him.
So, before you went to the hospital, you still were not sure what it was?
No, I wasn’t sure but ever before I left
my house, I said, should it turn out to be breast cancer, it was not
going to kill me. I would be like those oyinbo women I watched on
the TV. When it was confirmed, I was ready. I wasn’t going to reject
surgery. You know some women, if you told them that they would lose
their breast, some of them would faint. Then when I had the surgery, the
problem was whether to take the chemotherapy and because I had read a
lot about the scourge on the internet, I knew so much about everything
and implication of each step. When I looked at my medical history, I
knew that I wasn’t going to cope with chemotherapy because I react to
everyday drugs. And I knew that chemo drugs are very powerful; they
would kill both cancer cells and the normal cells. I told myself that if
I took the chemo drugs, I knew I would not live in the next one week. I
would rather stay for six months and get my children prepared; it was
terrible. I told my consultant and he said I should go and think about
it but when I went back eventually, I told him I was not doing chemo and
he agreed. I read about it that if your condition was localised and it
had not affected the surrounding tissues, neither had it gone into the
nymph node and then the blood stream, then you are fine with just
surgery and radiotherapy. Then you are given Tamoxifen and in two years,
you are okay. I believed in that one until what they were doing in UCH
that time where everybody had chemo with some of them dying from the
chemo instead of the disease. That was the decision that I took; I
didn’t take chemo and I am glad I didn’t.
You were scared to tell your husband when you felt the lumps, when you eventually told him, what was his reaction?
He died first; he lost it. Of course, he
was very supportive eventually but he was really scared. When they
confirmed that it would result into mastectomy, both my doctor and our
friend, Professor Jaye Thomas didn’t know how to break the news but I
saw it in their face and I was the one that broke the ice. I talked to
my husband and said, if this thing is cancer, I would lose one breast,
you would play with the other one and everybody started laughing. That
was how I broke the ice. I said the whole breast should be removed
because I can’t stand my children being raised by another person. I had
that fighting spirit that I must be around for my children whatever it
would take. I wanted to live and the thought of my children gave me a
further lift.
Before you discovered the lump, was it your usual practice to check your breasts?
No, I must admit. When we were in the
university, we always read about breast cancer and breast examination in
Ebony Magazine and all the rest but we glossed over it. I never for one
day checked but when I had my bath, unconsciously I would feel my
breasts, not to check for anything but somehow I would do it. Then, I
just felt that lump and I zeroed in where I felt it. Of course my mind
raced to breast cancer but I said it was not possible, with my plans and
my children, how could I have breast cancer? But the thing was there
and refused to disappear and my fingers would not leave it. But the good
thing nowadays is that self examination is like a jingle now and I
think the level of awareness is increasing.
At what point did you decide to go public with your story and when you told your husband, did he object to it?
I took the decision on my own to go
public and my husband would tell you that he objected to it but I stood
on my feet firmly. I said nobody was going to stop me because when I got
to the hospital, I thought I was alone but it would amaze you that two
wards were filled with women with different stages of breast cancer. It
was a taboo to come out with such a story then. As I said, my husband
would be honest and he has been honest in saying it that when I wanted
to come public with it, that he said no but that I put my feet down that
nobody would live my life for me. Gradually, he got used to it and he
is my main supporter now; he is my iroko. I refer to my husband as my iroko; you know when you are under iroko,
you are protected. At the end of the day, he became my cheer leader and
supporter and there is nothing he can not do for this organisation
because he has found out that it makes me happy.Through self education, I
got to know that breast cancer progresses with time; you have zero
stage when you can’t see it but by only mammography. Stage one is when
you can feel it and that was my stage when I felt it with my hands. If
you do nothing, it goes to stage two, three and four. Majority of
Nigerians would not come to the hospital until when they are in stages
three and four during which time it might be too late. The Ekiti State
Deputy Governor presented her case at stage 3.
Why didn’t you consider spiritual means first?
I never did because I am not really a
religious person. I don’t believe in all that and that was my saving
grace, otherwise, I would not be here. I have my opinion on how things
should be done and this started when I went to the Philippines for my
masters. The system here is read, cram and pour, it is not in-depth but I
saw the difference when I went to Philippines where lecturers and
students interact. When you interact with your lecturers, you tend to
learn more; it’s not just the subject matter, other things would come to
play. I had two lecturers who were down to earth and then, they tended
to like African students. At the cafeteria, lecturers and students would
queue for food together and sit down to eat. And we postgraduate
students were more mature; some of us married and had children. The
lecturers taught you more than the subject matter but other things like
developmental issues that we had in Nigeria then. My education in that
place changed me completely.
Would you say your case was as a result of hereditary?
No, I wouldn’t say that because very
small percentage of cancer is hereditary and you can trace it in the
family history but now that I have it, the percentage of my children
having it is high. They might and again, they might not even have it.
They are very conscious of it now and with the rate genetic testing is
becoming cheaper, a time would come that everyone would be able to
afford it and get rid of it at zero stage. When Angelina Jolie did it,
she just removed the two of her breasts because her mother died of it
and even her aunt. She did genetic testing and discovered that she had
about ninety something percentage of having it. Environmental factors
are being looked into.
What were you doing then before you had it that you don’t do now in terms of food you take and social life?
When it comes to social, I am even more social now but I have done away with so many lifestyles. I am even looking healthier. Eba, amala,
bread, yam, all those starchy food are no more on my diet. I weaned
myself gradually from all those things and soft drinks. It has also been
found out that what we eat could also have a hand in all kinds of
diseases that affect us. I play tennis, I do yoga and I decided to
promote exercise among women and embarked upon it. My food now is
vegetable with fish, peanuts, cashew nuts and fruits. By first Saturday
of every month, women come here, they exercise and we serve them what we
call healthy breakfast but no minerals at all.
Which means that change in your diet too has affected the family as a whole?
Of course, that is it. Everybody goes green and fruit; in my house, there must be fish.
Before the time, what were you doing?
I was with Federal Ministry of
Agriculture, department of fisheries. I worked there for 28 years. I
read zoology and went to Philippines for my masters in fishery. I
decided to leave when I was tired of pushing files; you are in the
ministry and your brain will atrophy. I managed to stay till 2005 when I
left for fish production and I am very happy doing that. I am even
grooming people to be producers, this is what we need, not pushing
files. I don’t think I would want any of my children to go into federal
ministry; if you were smart in the university, they may make you a
dullard.
How was it getting married to a Yoruba lawyer?
After my youth service, I got posted to
Enugu where my husband was serving. A very close friend of mine with
whom I was very close had her boyfriend serving in Enugu and was a
friend to my husband. When my friend’s boyfriend and Aketi came
visiting, that was how we met and we sparked.
Did you have an open mind in terms of marriage?
I would say I am a non conformist; it is
not that I didn’t have people from my area coming to have relationship
but there are some qualities you look out for in a man. When I saw him, I
liked his broad shoulders; that was the first attraction. I needed
someone that would envelop me and protect me and that is what he has
been doing all these years. He was very good looking and he played
tennis and I liked to play tennis too. I don’t regret marrying him even
though my people had their apprehension that Yoruba are fond of marrying
second wife. My father, who was a headmaster, warned him seriously that
if you maltreat her, that’s her room, she will come back. There is
nothing like marriage made in heaven even when you are killing the
woman. Thank God, my husband did not disappoint my father. My father
loved me so much and when I brought him home, my father shook his head
and said it’s okay and he blessed us and he did not regret it.
Did you support your husband’s political aspiration when he vied for governorship seat in Ondo State?
I was even in politics before him. I
contested election in 2007; I wanted to be senator but eventually I
contested as a member of the House of Representatives. I was there too
in 2011 to support Chief Rochas Okorochas. I encouraged my husband even
though he wasn’t so much in the kind of politics played around. The
politics he knew is Bar politics and students union politics. It was
like dragging out someone but we are still playing politics of amala and ewedu.
Would you say you are free of cancer?
Yes, I can confidently tell you I am
completely free of cancer. I used to feel the trepidation in the first
few years but I don’t feel that anymore.
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