Cancer survivors in Bungoma have urged Governor Kenneth Lusaka administration to set up a radiotherapy and chemotherapy centre in the county.
They say they are forced to travel to other counties to get the services.
Gaudencia Karani from Matulo village, Webuye West constituency, in Bungoma county narrates the ups and downs she has been through as she sought cancer treatment.
Karani says she has been moving from one hospital to the another with the hope of getting healed.
She has been battling breast cancer for 32 years now.
Karani says at first she was not aware if it was cancer.
“It started like an inflammation with a hard huge mass inside. At first, I thought it is normal milk,” she says.
The mother of four says her first three children breastfed for a longer period than the fourth born who stopped breastfeeding earlier due to the cancer.
“My first three children breastfed for a very long time but the fourth one couldn’t due the development of cancer,” she says.
Karani, who once worked as a municipal officer in Webuye, says after the pain persisted, she decided to seek medical attention in Webuye.
The doctor referred her to then Bungoma District Hospital (now Bungoma County Referral Hospital) for further examination.
Karani says she visited the Bungoma facility and after she was examined, the doctors there referred her to a hospital in Kisumu.
On reaching Kisumu, she was informed that the machine that could have been used to examine her had broken down and she was referred to Eldoret.
“Upon review and examination by cancer experts at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, they told me that it was cancer. They booked me for surgery and told me they would remove one breast to stop further spread of the disease,” she says.
Karani says that when she was ready for the operation, the surgeon who had booked her changed the plan informing her that the cancer had spread to other parts of the body. She was given medication, discharged and asked to return after six months.
While at home before the six months elapsed, Karani says she heard of a free medical camp in Kima, Vihiga county, and she decided to visit.
“After I came from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, I was in pain though it was not severe but I needed a solution to my problem. That is why I decided to go and see doctors in Kima,” she says.
After breast examination, the doctors asked her to travel to Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi and meet cancer specialists. In Nairobi, she was booked for surgery.
“I only slept in Nairobi once then operation was done. Then I was scheduled for chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions,” she says. Both forms of treatment were very expensive, Karani says.
“Treating cancer is not easy, my family spent almost all the money they had until they turned against me saying that it was superstition,” she says. But cancer is not witchcraft, she adds.
Karani says in her quest to seek treatment, she lost friends and family members who did not want to be involved in her predicament.
“When you have cancer, people run away from you. Even my own husband ran away from me and he was against my operation, my parents did not accept that I have cancer,” she says.
Meanwhile, Governor Lusaka has called on Bungoma residents to go for early cancer screening.
Lusaka says that while cancer is a killer disease, when diagnosed early, it is manageable.
"We are all prone to cancer, no one is immune but the earlier we screen, the better it can be handled,” he says.
The county chief says Bungoma is setting up a pathology laboratory for early diagnosis of cancer.
"The outpatient oncological services will also be provided at Bungoma County Referral Hospital where chemotherapy services will be readily available for cancer patients," the governor says.
Health and sanitation executive Andrew Wamalwa says cancer treatment is very expensive and has urged residents to go for early screening.
"Take care of your diet to avoid contracting cancer. It is an expensive disease to treat and I am requesting all of us to go for early screening to understand their status,” Wamalwa says.
Better World Cancer Organisation CEO Dr Esther Andare has decried the high numbers of cancer cases in Bungoma.
She says Kimilili subcounty leads with breast cancer, Webuye East with cervical cancer while others are balanced in between.
Andare, who is a cancer survivor, says there are more than 600 cancer survivors in Bungoma county.
"We deal with different types of cancer survivors and patients, we empower them during and after treatment, assist them financially for survival and keep them going," she says.
Andare also says that cancer is the third leading cause of death in Kenya, with breast cancer being among the leading type of cancer affecting women.
