Your words are your medicine – cancer survivor

With a petite frame, humble demeanour and smile bright enough to light up even the darkest of places, Sylvia Ngale would not strike you as the tough woman she really is.

That is until you know her story.

An employee at Montecasino, a devoted mother of two young sons, and a daughter to loving parents, the 47-year-old has a captivating nature and utmost desire to share her story in the hopes that it inspires others battling cancer to not lose hope or faith. This is why Ngale recently sat down with Fourways Review in a corner of a local coffee shop to tell her story.

Back in 2010, at the age of 39, Ngale became agitated with what seemed like a minor sinus issue. “I went to my GP complaining about my sinuses, thinking nothing of it. It was nothing to worry about it.

“But my doctor seemed to think I had bronchitis or TB even though I wasn’t coughing or anything like that which is why it was strange to think I could have TB,” she said.

“So he sent me for a chest scan and I was so confused because I kept thinking the problem was with my nose, not my chest. But then the results came back and they had picked up black spots on my lungs, especially the right-hand side.”

Despite this, Ngale wasn’t worried and gladly agreed to more tests at various clinics over the course of a few weeks. Between biopsies, mammograms and ultrasounds, doctors could not figure out what was wrong. At one point, Ngale remained in the hospital for two weeks with no inclination as to why she was even there.

“Eventually, they sent me home because they still couldn’t tell me what was going on but then I was called back a few days later,” she said.

“The doctor sat me down and told me ‘You’re not going to like what I have to say, Sylvia. You have lung cancer’.

“Instead of thinking this was the end of me, I didn’t take it like that,” she smiled. “I just thought it was fine, I took it as if he had just told me I had the flu.”

Ngale casually asked the doctor, “What happens from here? What do I need to do?”

Three days later, she got a call from an oncologist to begin chemotherapy. “I wasn’t scared to tell my family because I knew I was going to fight it and be strong, especially for my sons and my parents. My mother has diabetes so I didn’t want her to worry about me.”

However, after her first chemo session that August, Ngale grew gravely ill. She lost massive amounts of weight along with her hair and her nails turned black.

With a fever of 40°C, Ngale was admitted into hospital again but this time, she was unrecognisable. “I looked like a completely different person. I could see death in my own eyes.”

As her immune system weakened, Ngale was transferred to an isolation booth in ICU on life support where, if loved ones wished to see her, either she or her visitors were required to wear protective garments so as to prevent her from getting more sick.

“At this point, I began to feel as though it could be the end of me after all and I just kept thinking about my kids, my two boys who needed me,” she explained. “So then I shook it off. I told myself that I wasn’t going anywhere. I was going to fight this for my children. My youngest was only in Grade 1.”

Never having been a strong believer before, Ngale called on God to help her. That’s when she drifted off and underwent what she described to be a near-death experience.

“Whether you believe in these things or not, I left my body and drifted elsewhere to the most beautiful place with green grass and such happy people.”

And as happy as Ngale said she was to be in that place too, she was soon reminded of her children and how she did not want to leave them. She woke up in hospital, praising God that she was still alive and for allowing her to see what she had seen.

“I got out of bed and began singing, dancing – the hospital staff thought I had lost my mind and tried to calm me down.”

After some time, Ngale was transferred back to a standard ward and a mere few days later, she was discharged.

“I went home while everyone was either at school or work so I was on my own and decided to come face to face with the mirror to speak with myself.”

Ngale had learned that words can both build and destroy, so she chose to play them to her strengths. “By the power of your tongue, you can be whatever you want to be and win any battle so I told myself that I would be strong and live. I still had cancer, I was still bald but I was not going to let anyone dictate to me or be the architect of my spirit.”

And she stayed true to her word. After continuing chemotherapy, being stared at wherever she went and considered crazy, Ngale was cleared of lung cancer in January 2011 – five months after she had first been diagnosed.

“Everyone was shocked at my recovery, especially the doctors. Some people I know don’t even believe I had cancer because of my recovery but I don’t pay too much attention to them.”

Ngale aspires to eventually write a book about her story and share her message with others. “Don’t lose hope in any situation but build with your words. Oh I wish I could stand on top of a mountain and tell the world ‘Use your words, it is your medicine’,” she laughed.

Now, nine years after diagnosis, Ngale has remained clear of cancer and thanks her boys for believing in her.

“The world is full of challenges, there is light after darkness and rainbows after the storm. I always knew that, so whoever thought I was crazy didn’t know what I’m made of.”