A twenty-six year old breast cancer patient, Abena Mansah, who is battling for her life, is advocating against the use of traditional medicines in treating breast cancer disease.
She said if she had listened to medical advice that traditional medicine treatment for breast cancer compounds its treatment rather than curing, her breast cancer would not have reached a late stage. The patient came to Peace and Love Hospital at Oduom, in the Oforikrom Municipal of the Ashanti region on Tuesday, January 11, with swollen, disfigured and discolored breasts. She burst into uncontrollable tears when doctors at the facility after diagnoses told of her current condition and her little chance of survival.
Narrating her situation, she said “I came to Peace and Love Hospital with lumps in my breasts. They said a lab test must be conducted to find out what exactly they were, I was afraid so I ran away.”
“I got pregnant along the way, a nurse during an antenatal, told me to visit Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) for breast cancer treatment. At KATH, I was told that a mastectomy (removal of the breast) must be performed to save my life, I was afraid too so I ran away”.
She continued that her last hope was to resort to traditional medicines she had been hearing on radios, “and after sometimes, my breasts disfigured, discharging unpleasant fluids, with one breast swelling and the other shrinking”. Anguishing in pains, she pleaded with her fellow women to heed to medical advice on breasts cancer because they can only assist in its treatments, and through her experienced, she said “no traditional medicine or herbs can cure breast cancer”.
The Consultant Surgeon at the Peace and love Hospital, Dr. (Mrs.) Beatrice Wiafe Addai, said the patient’s case is at the late stage (Stage 4), and palliative treatment is the only option. “Her Prognoses (survival for late stages of breast cancer) is poor; giving her a little chance to survive. All that we can do is to give her palliative treatment to keep her going,” she said.