It was the maximum difficult second in Ms. Gladys Wanjiru’s existence while a health practitioner walked to her clinic mattress and broke the news that she had cancer.
Wanjiru, 35, becomes confused. She had gone through a biopsy at Naivasha Hospital. She had patiently and anxiously waited for three weeks to realize that become unwell after developing a lump on her breast.
“The point of most cancers turned into like a death sentence to me. I wanted the heavens should swallow me properly there. How could I manipulate the sickness that became killing so rapidly?” remembers Wanjiru.
The hassle did not stop there. Her husband rejected her when he learned she had to undergo a mastectomy. She had no shoulder to lean on at a time when she wished for moral help the maximum.
She misplaced her vanity and could lock herself up inside the residence due to the stigma.
“I kept to myself and grew weaker every day. In handiest shared with a few friends approximately having been identified with most cancers,” says Wanjiru.
One day, as she walked to the oncology branch on the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital in Nakuru for a chemotherapy consultation, she met a set of women who had been uncharacteristically glad despite being cancer sufferers.
The women added her to their organization, Uzima Foundation, took her under their wing, and gave her great deal-wished solace. It is all Wanjiru needed; her shallowness soon started to improve. “It had taken me long to just accept my circumstance, especially after having my breast removed. I had low self-esteem. However, I changed into thrilled when I met individuals with whom I may want to relate,” she says.
Uzima Foundation is a cancer-affiliated organization established in February this year, with a membership of approximately 60 women. Its essential intention is to support girls living with cancer. Of the 60 members, at least forty are individuals identified with breast cancer, most of whom have undergone mastectomy.
The group knits transient prostheses with the use of domestically sourced materials. The prosthesis is dispensed amongst women who have undergone mastectomy.
Wanjiru says that before she joined Uzima Foundation, she would wrap rags together and put them on in place of her breast. At the organization, she turned into given a prosthesis, and she quickly regained her confidence and self-esteem.
Sarah Muchiri, a group member, says some women get dejected after the present process of mastectomy.
“We shaped the organization to aid several ladies who were silently losing of lives to cancer and supply hope to those who face stigma and rejection from society,” says Muchiri.
After coming collectively, the institution realized they wished for artificial prosthetics. But they couldn’t manage to pay for the ones sold at Sh25,000 a couple. That is once they started to shop for the uncooked materials, which include cotton thread, fiber, and needle, and got all the way down to paintings, knitting themselves out of stigma, rejection, and self-empathy.
“Losing a breast is the most traumatizing component a female can ever undergo. Our ache and shortage of a higher choice made us give you the concept of knitting our very own prosthetics,” says Muchiri, a mom of 3.
The synthetic bras are dispensed to the various participants, and the relaxation is offered at Sh2,000 each.
The cash from the sale of the objects is used to purchase pills for participants and support others to enroll in the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). The institution is, but, but to get higher market for the prosthetics.
