Their bodies were a canvas from which came painted green roots and flowers that represented health and liberation. The testimonies of him, a reality of overcoming.
Ten women, from different provinces of the country, told what it is like to live with breast cancer in an event organized by the Youth Against Cancer Foundation.
Every year in Ecuador, about 8,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and of these 570 have advanced disease in which there are metastases.
In February 2021, Jessica Guamán, 27, single and childless, while bathing, a nodule was detected in one of her breasts that later turned out to be breast cancer. She has undergone 23 radiotherapy sessions.
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Currently, she is undergoing periodic treatment, which must be done every three months at the Carlos Andrade Marín hospital, of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security, in Quito.
Regarding the care in that health home, she affirmed that they have treated her well, but there are times when the hospitals do not have the medicines.
She recalled that she currently has the drugs, but when she was in treatment she spent approximately $400 each week.
He managed to cover the expense with his job —later he lost it in the pandemic—, with family support and that foundation. Fortunately, he got another job.
He complained that shifts in social security are given every three or five months, and cancer, he added, does not wait, so he called on the authorities so that there are timely treatments. He estimated that a chemotherapy treatment could be worth between $1,500 and $3,000.
“My tumor grew in less than a month: it was the size of a pea; it became super large; it came to be five centimeters by six centimeters (…). It is not necessary to pass the 40 years, 50 years, to be able to have this diagnosis of breast cancer; in fact, there are much younger women who suffer from it, ”she indicated.
Guamán had a quadrant removed from her right breast. For her, cancer is a synonym of overcoming, although the doctors who treat her do not rule out that it could reappear.
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Selena Mafares, 52, from the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, never thought she could suffer from this disease, which she called “silent.”
He has been fighting it for two years. Like Jessica, a tumor was detected in the shower, in her left breast. She said that there was a lot of delay until there was confirmation.
The tumor went from 2.5 centimeters to 10 centimeters. She was referred to the Eugenio Espejo hospital, of the Ministry of Public Health, where she underwent six chemotherapies, with which the tumor dropped to six centimeters, and then her breast was removed. There were 22 nodes, of which three were malignant.
“Right now I feel very good, I feel in good spirits (…); I didn’t faint,” she noted with a wide smile. She is a single mother of five children.
Gustavo Dávila, director of the Youth Against Cancer Foundation, mentioned that 47% of cancer diagnoses are stage 3, which means that there is no prevention; and 8%, in the initial stage. In addition, 35% are treated in the public health network; 15%, in the IESS; 46%, in Solca.
About an investigation on this disease in 300 women between 25 and 80 years old, in fourteen provinces, he said that 57% work; and that, of every 100 women, only 20 have a disability card.
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Regarding medical expenses, Dávila said that 32% require family support to pay for them, 56% are supported by friends and relatives, and 20% have their own resources. He indicated that 65%, at some point, have had to abandon their treatments due to lack of medicine, distance or economic issues.
“If there are no mammographs; if the equipment is obsolete, it doesn’t work; if the appointments give them for three, four, five months; if there are no medications, three, four, five months, what life expectancy are we talking about?” he wondered.
Juan Zapata, Minister of the Interior, was at that special event and pointed out that he will be a transmitter of the words of Dávila, who asked the Government and the National Assembly for action so that there is respect and priority in prevention, as well as in timely treatments. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
