Breast cancer athlete

A breast cancer athlete – that’s what Kenyan cancer survivor Katheke Mbithi calls herself.

Mbithi, who also calls herself a “warrior” when she visits women with breast cancer is on a passionate quest to transform people in their unique personal journeys with the disease in a country where breast cancer still carries a stigma.

Speaking during the session entitled Reaching and Strengthening Survivors, Mbithi said in Kenya, breast cancer is, in many areas,  a taboo subject.

When Mbithi, a wife and mother of two children, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, her father suffered a stroke soon afterwards – as he firmly believed she would not pull through.

In a heart-wrenching presentation, she told delegates that family members from a rural area visited after her diagnosis and thought she was dying after her diagnosis.

It didn’t help that Mbithi was five-and-a-half months pregnant. It was breast cancer volunteers who helped her with her child after the birth when she went in for treatment – she took a decision with her family not to start treatment until after the child was born.

“My husband’s aunt told him he must find himself another wife as I was going to die. I didn’t talk to her for six years, but, since then I have realized it is not her fault. She is ignorant of the disease and the Bible says, “forgive them … they know not what they do.” I forgave her and a lot of other people who thought I was going to die. It had a big impact

Mbithi adamantly refutes any statements that a breast cancer diagnosis is a death sentence.

These days, she devotes herself 24/7 to the Kenya Cancer Association, Reach To Recovery, Kenya and the Nairobi Hospital Cancer Support Group.

“There is nothing more rewarding and fulfilling to me than when I introduce myself as a breast cancer survivor,  a warrior,  and people say, but you do not look like you have cancer…

“I always reply, but what does a person diagnosed with breast cancer look like? You should hear the answers I get!”

Apart from the inspiring work she does with cancer sufferers – “my phone is never off and I am available at all times” – one of her key missions is to change the perspective on the illness in Kenya.

“When you tell them you are a survivor and that you were diagnosed eight years ago, they don’t believe you. We must work to change that.”

Speaking in the same session, Joanne Lovelock of Australia, a ten-year survivor, spoke of her work with the Cancer Council in Victoria, the Breast Cancer Network in Australia and the Breast Intentions support group.

Lovelock, who was diagnosed in 2003, spoke of the numerous “breast friends” she has made since her diagnosis – and the rewarding experiences she has had as a volunteer.

“From little things, big things grow,” she said of her own personal and professional growth after breast cancer.