A breast cancer survivor, Vosita Katonivere Taleniwesi is urging men to support the women in their families who have been diagnosed with breast cancer as women tend to downplay their condition.
Speaking at Fiji Police Force Pinktober morning tea, 50-year-old Taleniwesi says she found out she had breast cancer after the birth of her youngest child when instead of getting breast milk she was bleeding.
She says her mother passed away on the day she found out she had breast cancer.
In 2007, her sister also passed away.
Taleniwesi says in 2017, she decided to go back to the hospital as the lump on her breast had grown from the size of a Chinese lolly seed to the size of a golf ball and she was constantly feeling tired.
She says she was told to immediately get surgery done and this is when she finally told her husband and children that she had breast cancer.
The husband left her and the children after hearing about her condition.
Taleniwesi is urging women to talk to their family if they are sick because as women, they tend to hide their sickness and continue serving their family.
The Fiji Police Force also presented a $1,000 cheque to the Fiji Cancer Society to assist them in their awareness programs.
From January 2019 to August 2020, there were 187 breast cancer cases recorded in Fiji.
Women are being urged to know their bodies and immediately get checked by doctors if they see anything unusual about their breasts such as a lump on the breast, irritation, redness or dimpling and nipples pulled in or discharge other than breast milk.
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