Springs resident talks about his fight with “the big C”
This 64-year-old man is not allowing cancer to get in the way of his love for poetry.
When Albert Harmse first heard the word cancer, he thought it was a death sentence.
“What seemed like a painful derailing of my life plans would become a blessing.
“I had to adapt to change my lifestyle, my diet and my thinking,” he says.
Although his cancer is currently in remission after his stomach was totally removed, he feels he has so much to be grateful for.
His journey started in 2003 when he was working on a mine in Carletonville and thought he was living a healthy life.
Until one day when he visited the mine doctor who informed him he has a bleeding ulcer and more tests needed to be done.
These tests were done in a hospital in Carletonville and he was diagnosed with gastric cancer.
Within six months, after removing his stomach piece by piece, a complete stomach removal operation was done.
A small piece of “plastic pipe replaced the organ and he claims it is called a stomach reservoir.
Due to this, he is totally dependant on nutritional drinks as a food source.
“With my government pension I cannot afford the drinks and that is when I decided to call for help from the community on Facebook.
“The response was overwhelming,” he says.
He felt embarrassed to ask for help, but now he realises how wonderful the community of Springs is.
“They were all generous and kind and I have enough stock to last me for a few months,” he says.
He was also diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2010 which causes severe pain in his hips.
Only weighing 49kg, he depends on a walking ring as a means of support when he needs to go the bathroom.
Despite his pain and discomfort he tries to stay positive and loves writing his own poems.
Two anthologies, Taalsoldaat published in 2013 and Splinters van Leed published in March 2015, have come from his pen.
“Life is meaningful and the pain and suffering are somethings I have to live with, but I have many more poems to come,” says Harmse.
