Cancer survivors share their life stories at Cuppa-for-Cansa
As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, several cancer survivors shared their story at a Cuppa-for-Cansa in Petersfield on Saturday.
This event was hosted by the NG Kerk Springs-Noord and was well attended.
Every person who survived cancer has a reason for celebration and every person touched by cancer has a story to tell.
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Although not all the survivors present suffered from breast cancer, they all shared their stories of hope, strength and how they pulled through.
They described how their behaviour and reaction affected their lives as well as the lives of their families.
Rettie Stokes (60) has survived cancer twice and was diagnosed with lung cancer in June.
“Being diagnosed with cancer for the third time still doesn’t scare me,” she says, claiming that she is not a scared person.
Doctors removed the left lower lung lobe and she has been clean since the operation, but still goes for check-ups.
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Rettie was diagnosed with maligna melanoma in her right leg at the age of 23 years.
“The doctors had done a wide excision and I have been clean since then,” she says.
In March 2004, at the age of 48 years, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and the doctors performed a mastectomy to her right breast.
She has been clean of breast cancer for 12 years.
However, she was quite emotional when she shared her three diagnoses, the progress she made and the extensive therapy she received.
“The chemotherapy and radiation made me feel sick, but the friends I make during these sessions are memorable and precious,” says Rettie.
She says the breast cancer support groups give each person a sense of hope and the assurance that you are not going through therapy alone.
Annelise Dutton (27) shared her life story of recovery, hope and the healing of God.
In 1989, at the age of four years, doctors discovered a tumour in her sinus cavity.
She is passionate and says she leads a normal life.
The treatment left its mark on her body and has affected her hearing, sight, growth and hormones, but nothing deters this young woman from living a full life.
