Africa-Press – Malawi. “It’s a cancer” are words he recalls the day he was diagnosed with Leukemia or stage 4 Blood Cancer.
In a country where healthy systems remain stubbornly poor, the power to have access to good health facilities, amid hefty medical bills for critical patients to fly off to seek medical support from specialists, cannot be overemphasized.
At least that is the impression one gets after interacting with 25-year-old Deogratious Mpendamoyo who was diagnosed with stage 4 Leukemia or blood cancer at the age of 17. Initially with no hope of living, he accepted the tragic.
“I was only 17 years old at the time in March 2014, I had already lost my mother in 2003 from High blood pressure, and my father has Tuberculosis and suffered for a very long time until he breathed his last to the same illness in 2020.
“Accepting the reality of what was in my blood veins, I knew my moment of tragedy was still before me, I had to wake up to the fact that I had to be alright and follow the medical prescriptions which gave me a clear vision what I must do which was to make sure to keep a positive attitude and strong mental palate and that time my dad was around.”
“I recall the moment, clearly as day when my Oncologist told me about the news, a tidal wave of emotions hit me, overwhelmed I never expected to be diagnosed with cancer especially since I lived a healthy lifestyle and rarely had any health problems. It took me weeks before I could fully grasp what was going to happen to my body.
“The treatments began for 6 months at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, then after 2 months I stopped because it was horrible then I went to Mwaiwathu Private Hospital where the treatments began, 8 cycles of Chemotherapy and Several ER visits due to severe migraines and vomiting , and the chemotherapy physically and mentally drained me and that made the road to recovery a struggle. gaining back all the strength was another challenge I had to overcome, the support I had was prayers from the people I never personally knew.”
Mpendamoyo highlighted: “In my family history there is no one that has ever been diagnosed with Cancer but for me to be declared free is transformations started to happen in 2018 after 6 months was when I would receive my treatment for two times in a space of two weeks I started feeling better and on February 17 2019, I was declared cancer free, after 5 years of in and out of hospital state, and that time was still in school pursuing a bachelor’s degree in food nutrition which was challenging to proceed.”
With the continuous improvements, Mpendamoyo applied at Daeyang University under University of St Andrews in Scotland which awarded him a scholarship to pursue Bachelors in medicine.
“Luckily, I was cured and have been doing well since that time. I am grateful every day to have survived cancer and grateful to do what I love most – being creative, traveling and helping people.”
“I have scars from treatment but they don’t define me. But I must say, even though I was so young I have understood the importance of living a healthy lifestyle from a very early age. I hope we can all talk more about cancer and life after cancer. It’s definitely not always easy and there is a lot more that goes on after you have been cured of cancer. Chemotherapy saved my life but it’s a heavy medicine for anybody.”
Life after cancer
With his experience, knowledge of cancer, Mpendamoyo established an organization of supporting cancer patients in form of helping, educating and sensitizing the people of Malawi about Cancer from living a limited lifestyle.
The organization seeks to support cancer patients to learn how to live in a healthy lifestyle. He formed the organization in November last year which is now recognized by registrar general of Malawi Government.
“The organization known as Partners in Home Care formed on December 15, 2020 and currently undergoing registration with CONGOMA and the NGO Board which plans to promote the general public’s awareness of all cancer type and the various complications of the diseases.
“Non-communicable diseases like Cancer have been on the rise in Malawi with very few organizations that provide coordinate efforts to address the disparity that exists between the urban and rural populations as to how they access cancer health care services.”
According to Mmpendamoyo, one of the key elements in the organization is reducing the cancer mortality rate by focusing individual behavior, public policy and research on prevention and early detection, and also improving knowledge and early detection services to be more accessible for people in medically underserved communities by collaborating with partners to maximize the effectiveness and reach of the prevention.
This would in more ways help Malawi meet access to mobile healthy services that will reach many people in the communities, especially among youth, all over the world considered as the most productive age group required to undergo cancer screening.
Mpendamoyo observed that: “There is need is better now as research is showing that Covid 19 triggers Cancer sadly they are not much preventative measures put in place for people living with cancer or any non-communicable diseases.”
As the organization, the goal is to continue to advocate, sensitize and screen the citizens of Malawi services which are offered for free to those who are in the rural areas.
He further highlighted that due to lack of financial resources, they help few patients and so far, it has assisted 7 people from different types of cancer.
“We also work with Community Based Organizations to help reach out and identify people within communities that are showing signs of cancer, so far we managed to support a woman who had cervical cancer from the time it was shown in the body, we had to pay for medical attention that was amounting to 200 000 Malawi kwacha.”
“We have supported cancer patients pursue secondary school while continuing with the dosages.”
One of the things that come out of patients are the challenges. Children rely on their parents for honest and help on information for treatment of cancer and once a child is diagnosed with cancer every member need support. Often the family feels shocked and overwhelmed following their child cancer diagnosis.
Upon hearing a diagnosis of cancer, the patient is faced with multitude of issues. In addition to the medical and logical details is a major concern of fear of death, deformity, pain, disability, infertility, altered relationship with peers and lack of consensus on how to assess value in medical care.
“We help in honest and calm conversation to build trust with the child his or her siblings in psychosocial support,” said Mpendamoyo.
