Thursday 13 August 2009

Please Say A Prayer



This is a very serious post guys.
i just had to find a way of letting it out and also getting in more prayers.
a friend, was diagnosed with CANCER earlier in the year. all resources and funds are being thrown in to save her life.
initially, when she went for some test on her own, the doctors did not tell her she had cancer. WTF didn't they tell her for? this made me very angry when i heard. aren't they the ones screaming early detection could save your life. msshhheeewwww!

so they find out she got the disease and everyone in the family is raking in their savings and asking other friends and family to support so as to fly her to SA to have the operation done and start treatment. she seemed fine and came back. continued chemotherapy.

last night, while having dinner on the dinning with my mum sitting opposite me saying her prayers, i get a call from my sister telling me that the cancer has spread to her spinal cord and she is in fucking pain and finding it hard to walk.
to walk! just to walk! things that we take for granted.
now they are looking for at least 2 million naira to have another operation done.
see as money dey yap man! it breaks my heart.
i am currently having cash flow issues cuz salaries have not been regular. that gist is for another day.

my sister asked if my mum could get assistance from our church by way of offering but my mum told her the plain truth. the church would take time as there are other appeals from other parishioners. CANCER is a fucker and fucks people over, leaving the family emotionally and financially drained.
as a trained and qualified midwife and theater nurse, she went further to explain that the management and care of cancer is expensive, horrible and devastating and that most times there is really no use. she wouldn't like to use the words waste of resources but it usually is, though some time could be bought.
i could see the hurt & pain in her eyes.

there are times doctors just speak with the families and tell the horrible truth.
but one can not sit still and watch your loved one writhe in pain!
there was an episode of Grey's Anatomy, where one of the interne's dad had the thing. he was told it had gone too far. if they operated it might not be successful and he might loose his life. they went ahead to operated and he still died.
i remember watching clips of Farrah Fawcett during her final days, going in for chemotherapy , writhing in pain and still praying the rosary. it was hard.
the Lord is our Healer and Strength .

dinner from then on was difficult. na cry mode i almost enter.
we talked about it and we both remembered when i discovered a lump in my left breast during my final year in university.
yes, i have had a lump removed.
then the awareness was not as it is today. or we were just naive.

God, was i scared.
i noticed it, i think, when taking a bath. i knew it wasn't normal cuz it didn't feel normal. i mean i could hold the sucker.
i went to a friend and told her to feel it. she screamed " Splash, this is big!"
i nearly started crying cuz i thought my life was over. i had to tell my mum over the weekend.
but first, i said i had to party just in case na the end be this o!
immediately she felt it on Saturday, it was hospital on Monday and operating theater on Tuesday. i was back in school by Friday.
the lump was tested and found not to be cancerous. Thank GOD!
but that dose not mean the coast is clear. i still have to examine my breasts on the regular. i'm even still scared doing that.

i know that people have fought and won. there in lies the hope. i continue to pray people fight and win.
it's by God's grace. all things through Christ Jesus.

Cancer is a devastating thing to happen to anyone. you never know till it hits close to home. a church member, colleague, a friend, an aunt, uncle, brother, sister, mum, dad, daughter, son ... the list goes on.

please, please and please remember her in your prayers. even if it's just in passing.
i feel so sad about this that it's bringing tears to my eyes but my tears can't dull the pain.
oh, this life is too deep! too deep!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope....

Trésor said...

how sad.
@marilyn, there's already a lot of breast cancer awareness going on- think PINK BALL.

Trésor said...

how sad.
@Marilyn: there are already lots of talk going on about cancer in Nigeria. think PINK BALL.

Splash said...

thanks guys.

yes, there is a lot of awareness now asides the pink ball.
magazines, news, radio, talk shows, church programs, ...name it.

marilyn said...

thanx.looks like am the only dumb one here