An Open Letter to Dearest Cancer Patients
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| Breast Cancer Awarness Month 500KM Bike Ride Day 3 -Photo: @IAmMugenzi |
It's me again! I have been refining my mission statement toward journeying with you since 2022. You may call me Mugenzi. I walk, hike, bike and capture a #1000Hills of Rwanda, and I am on a mission to create a physically active community that is engaged in cancer awareness, advocacy, research and social support! My heart is still with you, and I can repeat what I said at the World Cancer Day 2022!
I hope you thrive, with your family and support system, as you fight that battle because you are not alone. Thanks to the oncology nurses, doctors, and social workers who have been fighting with you, and on this healing journey! I also remain thankful for all those generous donors, funders, passionate policymakers, advocates, and fellow researchers who have been doing all possible work, in their capacities and expertise, to ensure that there is an improvement in the health systems toward cancer early detection, treatment, and data-driven interventions to address the burden.
I just wanted to say that I am still on this battlefield with you, and I wish you all the best toward the victory. I recently published my work on "Integrating Breast Cancer Early Detection Into a Resource-Constrained Primary Health Care System: Health Care Workers' Experiences in Rwanda". It has highlighted the progress the motherland, #Rwanda, has been making toward addressing cancer challenges, particularly breast cancer, and I hope it will elevate the change we hope for! Especially on supporting you.
I was reminded how there is inadequate staffing when it comes to providing breast cancer early detection and treatment. I hope that more healthcare providers' capacity building training programs get increased to increase care providers who can help everyone in Rwanda get identified as early as possible and receive needed quality care before it's too late.
I also got to understand how it is difficult to overcome stigma. It was until I cut off my Afro hair because the "bald" is on its way coming that I thought about what you probably feel when you are on chemotherapy sessions. Whenever a friend or colleague laughed or got sad because I now had a bald head, I was okay, but it made me reflect how you get to feel when someone doesn't first seek to understand why you have cut off your beautiful hair due to chemo; instead they make fun of you or rush to judge your decision. On the other hand, I was grateful to find others who would seek to understand or not even care asking questions about my Afro hair cutting but loved every aspect of my hair style. Whether the Afro or skinhead. And I hope you find strength and support through every aspect of your care!
Moreover, it has highlighted how sometimes there is a broken communication, in the health system, from the referral facilities; and it gets to complicate the care you are given. I hope that our decentralized healthcare system keeps improving to attend to all your needs, and when you are navigating the cancer care system at every point of the referral system. Not forgetting how navigating through the cancer care system is a troll to you and your family, which leads to poverty and impedes your referral completion, I hope that you keep finding relevant social support systems to enable feel supported and empowered so that you can thrive.
As I continue to serve as your advocate and supporter on this journey, I have started #IAmMugenziChallenge, with hope that it raises awareness and contribute to the Rwanda's (breast) cancer early detection movement. I cycled 275 km during the Breast Cancer Awarness Month (October 2022), and recently completed a 145 km 2023 Cancer Day Bike Ride Challenge. I did this with faith that we raise Rwanda's and global community awareness of cancer, especially calling up on individuals to get self educated about cancer so that they would know how to give any necessary support and care with grace, empathy, and humility. Throught that 420 km covered in only 13 bike rides, I kept one message constant, which was a call for men and women to consider consistent breast self-examination and routine health facility visits for breast screening because early detection and routine health check ups save lives. I cannot forget how I have found therapy and passion through embarking on this adventure with purpose. A purpose that is focused on reminding my co-workers, friends, family, significant other, and the world that cancer early detection is important like other health diseases that require routine check ups and healthier lifesytles, focused on physical activities as simple and adventurous as walking, hiking and safely biking in a #1000Hills of Rwanda!
May the World Cancer Day 2023 remind you that I am with you!
Yours Truly,
About the Author:
Aimable Uwimana holds a Master of Science in Global Health Delivery from the University of Global Health Equity and a Bachelor of Arts in Healthcare Management with Concentration in Global Perspectives from Southern New Hampshire University. Aimable has global health experience in service delivery, non-communicable diseases, and community development. In free time, Aimable explores the connections between the power of arts and health, particularly, mental health and one health, through music and nature photography.
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Let's Connect!!!
Twitter: @IAmMugenzi Instagram: @IAmMugenzi YouTube: @IAmMugenzi
Research:
2. Assessing the knowledge, perceptions, and mental health impact of COVID-19 among students in Rwanda
3. Ending Child Marriage in Nigeria: The Maternal and Child Health Country-Wide Policy
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