If a woman loses a breast this does not make her less of a woman.
Asena Senimoli, a breast cancer survivor today stressed that this is testament by many women that are still running their families, businesses or are back at work after their fight against Breast Cancer.
While speaking at the launch of the Fiji Dairy Breast Cancer Campaign the Religious Education teacher says that more awareness is needed about breast cancer.
The 55-year-old says that she found the lump in her breast in 2009 but did not think much of it because she did not feel any pain associated with the lump.
Senimoli says that it wasn’t until 2012 when she had a thorough medical check-up that she presented the issue to medical professionals.
She persisted with traditional medicine for some time, till she felt that this was not working at all.
Senimoli adds that the thought of leaving her then 8-year-old daughter to learn to live without a mother led her to fully comply with directions given by the doctors and nurses.
She acknowledged the Fiji Cancer Society for assisting her with transportation costs to and from the hospital when emergencies arose.
The mother of one pleaded with stakeholders present to continue to assist in advocating and creating more awareness.
Fiji Cancer Society says that more women are now coming in for early detection and intervention.
In 2015 there were a total of 355 cases of breast cancer, and the youngest person diagnosed with breast cancer is 17 years old.
In 2015 136 deaths were caused by breast cancer whereas in 2016 there were 145 deaths and so far this year there were 45 deaths from breast cancer.
Meanwhile, Fiji Dairy will give 5 cents to the Fiji Cancer Society for every Rewa Dairy Powdered Milk purchased.
