Cancer survivor helps others beat the disease

Sam Ngugi was happily planning his wedding 10 years ago when he was diagnosed with cancer. 

Ngugi had experienced prolonged headaches, loss of weight and severe fever, which he treated with pain relievers.

Finally, he decided to go for a checkup. The year was 2012. 

At the hospital, he was told that he had nasopharyngeal carcinoma cancer, a tumour that affects the nose, head, eyes and ears.

The tumour was behind his nose, was aggressive and he needed urgent medical attention, the doctor told him.

“It was a difficult time for me to come to terms with the news because I had a choice to fight the disease or give up. I had faith in God that despite the outcome of the disease I would recover and be back on my feet in no time,” Ngugi said.

When he started his chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions, Ngugi received assurances from the doctor that all would be well.

He needed Sh600,000, which family, friends and well-wishers helped him raise.

“[However] we discovered that the treatment came with its fair share of side effects. I was heartbroken when the doctor told me that the side effects had the potential of affecting my body cells to an extent of not being able to reproduce and that I would have to wait for close to 20 years to have children,” Ngugi said.

“Cancer had affected my ENTC system, one of my eyes reduced in size, my tongue swelled and filled my mouth, I could not hear and speak.” 

The chemotherapy and radiotherapy took a toll on his body and his immunity weakened to a point where the doctors stopped the treatment and quarantined him to avoid the risk of infection.

Though tempted to give up, Ngugi encouraged himself in the Lord and his faith in God deepened each day through prayer.  

“God sent my way a cancer survivor who overcame cancer stage-4 and he advised me on the diet to observe that would boost my immunity,” he said.

The survivor introduced him to a natural diet that included vegetables, organic blackstrap molasses, soda bio-carbonate and fruit juices.

He was advised to avoid sugar, dairy products, cholesterol and processed food.

Ngugi followed the diet religiously and within three weeks of that and prayers, he had significantly regained his immunity and resumed treatment.

His wife conceived in the course of his chemotherapy sessions but the doctor advised them to terminate the pregnancy.

He successfully went through 38 radiotherapy and eight chemotherapy sessions and after several tests, the doctor declared him cancer-free.

Ngugi decided to share the diet information with a friend who had breast cancer and years later she was declared cancer-free.

“After my friend got healed I decided that if I made a difference in someone’s life I could help thousands of people. We started a foundation with my wife and friends to create awareness of cancer and give cancer patients hope that it is beatable,” he said.

The foundation is called Cancer Awareness and Management. It provides moral care, advisory dietary support, links cancer patients with survivors and offers psycho-social support.

“The foundation has grown over time and we have been able to go to more than 17 counties and supported over 300 cancer patients and cancer survivors. We get information about cancer patients from local leaders in the community, barazas and churches,” he said.

In collaboration with the founder, each of the 47 counties is assigned one Voluntary Cancer Warrior who takes charge of the operations. The foundation hopes to scale up the number to five VCW per county in the next three to five years based on need.

Ngugi said his greatest support system was his wife, who held his hand even when his life became blurry.

Julia, Ngugi’s wife and his caregiver, said the journey was tough but she prayed to God for strength to help her husband through the dark times.

“After we learnt that Sam had cancer, it was hard to come to terms with the news. I decided to be strong on his behalf and I did research on the type of food he was supposed to eat. I made a meal timetable,” she said.

Julia she did not run away from the problem but stayed and helped to fix it.

"My battle with cancer was fought on three fronts—chemotherapy and radiotherapy on one side, natural therapy on another side and faith therapy that included intense prayer, which helped me stay my mind on God,” Ngugi said.

“Today, there may be someone who is lost on what to do as they wallow in the murky waters of fighting this scourge called cancer; you and I can, should and will stand with such persons as we trust God to give us strength and resources to execute this noble task.”

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya