A 12-hour flight itinerary was fast approaching. Part of her luggage was already packed. Sister Anne Gathegu of Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary was eager to return to work.
“My annual leave was coming to an end and before I flew back to Sierra Leone, I went for my annual medical check-up on January 9, 2023,’’ she says.
This has been her routine since she was first posted to Sierra Leone as a missionary in 2017 working as a school bursar.
Sr. Anne says she prefers conducting her annual medical check-ups every time she is in Kenya, following a wrong diagnosis sometime back in Sierra Leone, which she attributes to the country's inferior health system.
Sister Ann Gathegu at Faraja Cancer Support Trust Center in Parklands, Nairobi on September 30, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
“After the tests, I went home to continue with my travel preparations only to receive an email on January 11 which got me anxious and a little bit confused. At first, I thought those were the wrong results sent. I wasn’t ‘sick’ when I went for the check-up. I thought because nothing was troubling me at all, not even the common ‘homa’ (flu). But the results stated there was something like a lump in my left breast. I pressed my breast almost every time since the results came in, and I couldn't feel anything strange. I didn’t know what to make or the results," she says
Still convinced that nothing was wrong with her, she banked on the mammogram test to prove her right.
“The year before around the same time, I had done the same tests and everything was perfect, what could have changed that fast within a year? I wondered. How could I have grown a lump within that period? It didn’t make any sense. The more I thought about it, the more I got concerned.”
But when the mammogram was done, the radiologist asked for a magnified view of her left breast. She needed to get a better look at something. If the breast tissue is dense, the X-ray film can be difficult to interpret.
A few days later having left the doctors to interpret the film for answers, another email came in suggesting that Sr. Anne needed to do another test, this time a biopsy, to test for cancer cells in the breast.
“Another test? I could now feel the fear rising, I knew I was in trouble, something wasn’t right,” she says.
The biopsy diagnosed Sr. Anne with invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer, but defiant and living in denial as she would be, she sought a second opinion and a third one.
On February 14, the tests confirmed Sr. Anne’s worst fears.
“As I waited for the results hoping one would be different -being religious- I took an eight-day prayer retreat to Subukia Shrines. My heart was shattered into pieces when the results came in, I broke down uncontrollably for extended periods. My world crashed. I didn’t know what to do with myself and kept wondering why this was happening to me. Is this what God had in store for me on Valentine’s Day, I questioned myself a lot. What was I going to tell my family” says the 44-year-old.
Amid the emotions, the nun made a decision not to inform her family of eight siblings and mother that she had been diagnosed with cancer.
“How was I going to tell them that I could be dying too? I knew I was already dead, it was just a matter of time. How was I going to tell them the news? We had already been through that. Just two years ago (in 2021) my father passed away from prostate cancer. My mother’s world literally sunk with the death of our father. My siblings were devastated, we had watched mzee go through so much pain. How was I going to face them with the same news whilst they were still healing from losing a beloved? I decided I wouldn’t overburden them. I would keep the news to myself,” she says.
Only her doctor, a cousin and his wife, whom she describes as “my support system’’ knew.
Certifited Zhumba instructor Isaac Manyange (right) guides Sister Ann Gathegu during a training exercise session on September 30, 2024 at Faraja Cancer Support Trust Center in Parklands, Nairobi.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
“When I went to see the doctor and she said to me I will need to prepare for a lumpectomy surgery [a surgery where only the affected part of the breast is cut] next week, I yelled at her ‘Please let's do the surgery now. That tells you how devastated, confused, and desperate I was.”
Even up to this point, Sr. Anne was still in denial.
“I asked the doctor how it was possible that I had cancer yet I wasn’t even sick, I hadn’t been for a long time. I could barely feel the lump. Besides, I'm a very active person."
The doctor's response to the nun was that a cancerous tumour at its initial developing stage, is never painful and easily goes unnoticed and that is why regular screening is highly recommended to arrest such a situation early enough.
“Looking at it now, it’s funny when the doctor kept consoling me as she kept telling me it was good news for her because it wasn’t a complex matter that she couldn’t handle. Her words were ‘This is something very simple for me to handle’ and I kept thinking, is she out of her mind? This is the cancer we are talking about. I have seen it kill my father,” she tells Lifestyle.
To the doctor, early diagnosis means early treatment which increases the chances of one living longer.
For her cousin and wife who accompanied Sr. Anne to the hospital every time, their concern was one.
“They constantly kept asking the doctors, ‘What stage is her cancer?’. You know everybody just thinks about the stage because then one can gauge the severity of the patient situation and probably come up with conclusions if it’s a battle that can be won or not.”
Having been diagnosed in its development stage, that was not a major concern for the doctor as it was for her cousin and the wife.
“What the doctor said is that it was in its initial stage between Stage 1 A and B. As for me, I didn’t care at what stage it was because in my mind I was already as good as dead no matter the stage.”
Sr. Anne’s lumpectomy surgery was successful and as a result, she lost some of her lymph nodes.
A lumpectomy is a breast surgery that removes a tumour and some surrounding tissue to treat cancer or diagnose whether a tumour is benign or malignant.
“That’s actually what the doctor said to me when I began my treatment. That as a result of being active, that was going to save my life.”
It took the Catholic nun six weeks before she could begin her radiotherapy session following the review.
“The oncologist recommended 20 sessions of radiotherapy. Radiotherapy was for precautionary measures to ensure that all the cancerous cells were weeded out,” she says.
The radiotherapy treatment, each costing Sh14,000 per session, was the most difficult part of the nun’s cancer treatment journey.
“I did a session every day for 20 days — the side effects of the treatment kicked in on the eighth day. I developed a dry cough, followed by excruciating pain when swallowing food. By the 10th day, I couldn’t swallow or chew food, so I started living on soups of blended fruits and vegetables. For two weeks and five days, I couldn’t chew or swallow meals. Every time I saw a meal, I cried. The pain I went through during that period is the type I wouldn’t even wish on my worst enemy,” Sr. Anne says.
During that period, she also experienced a weight loss of 10 kilos from her initial 84.
Faraja Cancer Support Trust
When she could finally gather some strength, Sr. Anne began visiting the Faraja Cancer Support Trust Center to pass the time and unwind.
Founded in 2010, the trust has a centre in Nairobi and Eldoret.
“What we do is support patients to cope with the effects of cancer treatment which is a big treatment like no other, that can take years and that takes a toll on the mental being of a patient. That’s where we come in by providing complementary therapies, which are all those therapies that are not necessarily chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery but support a patient to complete their treatments by ensuring they are in the right mental and physical framework. That’s why every Monday we have Zumba classes as one of our physical exercise programmes for all those who are in active treatment and survivorship having completed their treatment but need to keep healthy,” David Makumi, CEO of the Trust, told Nation Lifestyle.
Sister Ann Gathegu during a Zhumba training session at Faraja Cancer Support Trust Center in Parklands, Nairobi on September 30, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
Faraja offers its services free of charge which also include, dietary counselling, transformation breathing, yoga, psychological counselling, art, and music therapy, also financially supports needy patients with early cancers to either start or complete their treatments. For its operations, the centre raises funds through donors, funding, and well-wishers.
When I meet Sr. Anne at Faraja, she is not rocking her accustomed black apostolic or the tunic garnished with white strips. She is rather in a loose pair of pants and rubbers, and her plated plain lines hairstyle is on display.
“I rarely miss the Zumba classes because I love to dance. It has been part of my healing journey ever since I was introduced to Faraja during my treatment journey,” she says.
It has been less than a year since Sr. Anne began her cancer treatment. Her congregation superiors allowed her to remain in Kenya to focus on her treatment.
“Since being diagnosed with breast cancer, I did my first medical review last month (August 18) and I was told I am free of cancer cells. Within a short period of six months, I have been able to overcome cancer. I am glad about the early diagnosis because then I began early treatment which also meant less cost and full recovery,” she says.
However, she is taking Tamoxifen tablets daily, to lower the risk of the cancer coming back.
"I will take Tamoxifen for 10 years," she says, "It's already a countdown. This is the sixth month, meaning I have nine years and six months remaining."
“My cousin and his wife became my support system, I can't thank them enough and the merciful God. They walked with me through this difficult journey. They gave me a reason to be hopeful. They remained positive and that gave me a reason to keep fighting”.
The last few weeks, the nun has spent most of her time on phone calls breaking the news to each of her family members.
“I called each of my eight siblings one by one to break the news. Some were mad at me that I didn’t inform them. But I am glad I delivered them good news rather than a bad one,” she says.
