DAY IN THE LIFE: Indefatigable anti-cancer champion
Benda Kithaka is a marketing and business consultant. She is also the co-founder of Women for Cancer Early Detection and Treatment. PHOTO| CHARLES KAMAU
What you need to know:
1, 900 women so far and we have success stories. Women survivors of cancer are usually the best mobilisers.
I dream of a Kenya where women take their health into their hands and that our cancer battle stops at prevention. I am doing this alongside a team of 17 trained cancer advocates.
“There are life events that completely alter the course of our lives. Mine was having my younger sister get diagnosed with pre-cervical cancer five years ago. I was a comfortable high-level manager at the time.
After her treatment, I couldn’t stop thinking about other women out there who weren’t as lucky as she was to catch the cancer early. I knew I needed to do something so I quit my job and started doing cervical cancer awareness.
“This morning, I was woken up by a frantic call from a mother wanting to know if the lump in her daughter’s breast was cancer.
While I run a marketing and business consulting firm to put food on the table, cancer dominates most of my days. It’s a heavy topic, the statistics are depressing and most days, I do not even get to pause to just breathe, so I do this in the mornings at the gym.
“By day, as a business and marketing consultant, I survey markets for my clients, pinpoint the problems and come up with innovative solutions for their businesses. The rest of my time is spent on cancer advocacy.
The whole process starts with community awareness to get women to understand why they need to come in for screening. Then there is the treatment and the follow-ups.
HEARTBREAKING NEWS
“Today, we were carrying out screenings in a small village in central Kenya. The profile of a standard woman here is a housewife who is carrying out a little farming on the side to try and make ends meet while her husband sources for menial jobs. Imagine breaking to this woman the news that she has cancer. It was heartbreaking, but I was glad I could also give her hope. We have screened
1, 900 women so far and we have success stories. Women survivors of cancer are usually the best mobilisers. I dream of a Kenya where women take their health into their hands and that our cancer battle stops at prevention. I am doing this alongside a team of 17 trained cancer advocates.
“I like to be home early to bond with and cook dinner for my three children, but it was a long drive back to the city this evening. After I had tucked them in bed, I spent some time catching up on news and touching base with my husband.
Then I put in two hours of study for the post-graduate course I am taking in reproductive health. With my marketing background, I have I had to take the initiative to learn all that I could to be able to speak about health.
“The last thing on my mind as I tuned in tonight was gratitude. I am faced with pain on a daily basis and this has taught me to be thankful for the little things.”
