Page 29 - IB FEB 2019

Health

The knowledge that I had cancer and
February is National did nothing for the past eight years,”
Cancer Awareness Vakacokaivalu said.
Month. Yet across our yet in her shame, she says her
region, despite invest- doctor’s answer to her apology was
ment by local and inter- beautiful: “there is nothing that can’t
national organisations in be helped until we first try our best,”
awareness and educa- he told her.
tion campaigns, stories Vakacokaivalu had her right breast
of women who have removed in 2015. Since then, the re-
ignored early signs of assuring words of her doctor, and the
breast cancer are com- love of her husband and their children
mon. have given her hope.
yet today, at 57, Vakacokaivalu still
lives with a bitter taste of regret that
goes back to the moment she first felt that tiny twinge of pain.
“It was like a prick of a needle, just a tiny one, and would
disappear for months when it happened again,” she would say.
Her friends and families were concerned when they learnt of
her problem. “I just rejected the idea of me contracting something
like cancer.”
That shield of rejection, she said, became the curtain that cov-
ered everything for the next eight years, even as family members
began noticing the expanding size of her right breast.
Being the boss of her home, she was able to dismiss any que-
With daughter and model and Phlebotomist Balawakula Marama. ries from her husband, eroni Vakacokaivalu, a military Warrant
Photo: Jone luvenitoga
Officer Class One Medical Assistant.
Today, he is among those she continues to seek forgiveness
Sharing the ‘miracle’ from, for ignoring her symptoms for so long.
After her husband’s retirement from military service in 2011,
that saved her the family moved back to his village at Naisaumua, Verata in
Fiji’s Tailevu region.
Seek help as soon as you notice it this far.
Without his support, Anaseini said she wouldn’t have made
“My mind and memory were disorientated after my surgery
something’s wrong and my children were attending school and some were working.”
It was a time when she relied on an extra hand, even to put
on her dress. Through this time, she says her husband tirelessly
attended to her needs.
“He never left my side. He washed my clothes, fixed my bath,
set the bed, [and did] the other private duties during my recovery
days. He was there when I needed him the most.”
By Jone Luvenitoga eroni Vakacokaivalu says simply that he was fulfilling his duty
to Anaseini as her husband.
ANASeINI Rasowaqa Vakacokaivalu of Fiji is one such woman. “I have seen worst during my working days. We give all our
Islands Business shares her story in the hope it will provide a best as medical workers to comfort every patient for a speedy
cautionary, and ultimately hopeful example to us all. recovery so they would return to their designated duties,” he said.
She did not return her doctor’s greetings when he said hello “I may not have dreamt I would relive those days once again
as she lay on her bed at the Colonial War Memorial hospital’s but there is no patient more important than my spouse.”
acute ward in Fiji’s capital city. For she was reconciling a mistake Their daughter Balawakula Marama is grateful that her mother
that led her from her home to that bed, where she waited for the has been able to be an advocate for change, especially for women
moment when doctors would surgically remove her right breast who may be experiencing the early signs of breast cancer.
from her body. Today, her mum Anaseini is active at home and in the commu-
She let it all out. She confessed her mistake, seeking his for- nity again. She has taken on the role of village pastry baker, mak-
giveness for her ignorant heart. For eight years she had shunned ing an income of between F$200-$400 (uS$95-190) a month.
advice from concerned friends and relatives who knew of the “I made a mistake trying to ignore something as cruel as cancer,
tiny lump on her right breast she had discovered. It had silently but [have been] given a new lease of life through the love I find
developed into breast cancer. at home and the faith that we have for each other,” she said.
Vakacokaivalu’s apologies were not made out of courtesy but “even though I may not be perfect, I can share the miracles that
regret and shame for the ignorance and stubbornness of her heart healed me. And that is to seek assistance, seek medical health as
that led her to believe that her family’s lifestyle and hygiene was soon as you find any abnormality within you,” she said.
too high for cancer to develop. “The love of a husband and my children, who never left my
“I was helpless, in pain, my right breast had swelled four times side when I needed them the most. That is my miracle.”
bigger than my left breast, but the worst was starting to hit me. jkcaner@gmail.com

Islands Business, February 2019 29