Yvonne Akinyi: How I found voice and vigour after breast cancer diagnosis

Self-breast cancer check-up. [Getty Images]

The common belief that life cannot be easy nor better and that humanity only gets more adaptive by being resilient has never been epitomized by the gallant cancer survivors whose grit and will to overcome their life-threatening affliction is nothing but an inspiration.

Yvonne Akinyi is one such fighter made of steel.

She is courageous enough to afford a smile despite her battle with breast cancer, which is still, brutalising yet she is still giving hope to fellow cancer patients.

The 33-year-old, mother of one, remains positive in loss, and valiant in her small wins.

“Cancer is not a death sentence. If it is, I would be dead by now. Today there are many advanced treatments," she declares.

The survivor was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in July 2022. She says she was devastated by the news and it made her cry the whole night.

“Nobody can ever prepare one for the heavy words, "I am sorry, you have Cancer". I was devastated and spent the whole night crying. I was among millions of Kenyans who believed that a cancer diagnosis is an automatic death sentence and my death had just been confirmed,” she says.

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Yvonne confesses that she had never experienced cancer even from a close relative, and she had no idea how to tackle the situation moving forward.

“Fortunately, my best friend is a medic and has experience in dealing with the disease. She was my greatest support; assuring me that I would beat the cancer since my diagnosis was at very early stages. She was also very stern and didn't allow me to wallow in misery,” she says.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, breast cancer occurs when breast cells mutate and become cancerous cells that multiply and form tumours.

It indicates that breast cancer typically affects women and people assigned at birth (AFAB) age 50 and older, but it can affect men and people assigned male at birth as well as younger women.

For Yvonne, her friend’s words, "Continue crying while the cancer is eating you from inside. Get up and fight otherwise you will die and I will come to your funeral with a cold bottle of Guarana", still ring in her head.

She says her friends seemed cold, yet they influenced her strength, making her to resolve to fight with courage because she still wanted to live.

“I embraced the journey and believed that cancer was just but another disease I had caught. I met my doctors, and we came up with a plan on conventional treatment. I underwent a breast-conserving surgery in September 2022 followed by 8 sessions of Chemotherapy,” she narrates.

Yvonne says the chemotherapy process came along with some effects like hair loss, skin and hair discolouration, and weight loss, among other devastating effects, that first seemed unsettling, but she has since learnt to live with them.

“I remember almost giving up after the first cycle, then came Radiotherapy which can also be harsh. I went through 25 cycles of radiotherapy and was lucky enough not to experience the extreme effects of this therapy. The most evident effect is skin discolouration from the radioactive rays designed to burn the cancer cells,” she adds.

“I am currently on my 11th month of Hormonal therapy, tamoxifen tablets, a treatment that I might take for the next 4-9 years depending on my doctor's advice. This also has some side effects like hot flashes and night sweats, irregular periods in premenopausal women, vaginal dryness or discharge, headache and sometimes it can lead to depression,” Yvonne reveals.

She says that as a way of coping with the situation, she has embraced nature walks to relieve her stress, physical exercise which she said is believed to fight the cancer cells, change in her meal plan and having friends who support and encourage her to keep fighting.

“My greatest way of fighting this silent pandemic has been my faith and believing that God, is indeed in control. It is through this that I have been able to speak confidently to other patients to offer them hope. I also openly speak about my journey as a way of decompressing my thoughts and also to inspire other people to embrace screening for early diagnosis and effective treatment,” she says.

The journey made her come up with the Cancer Care Kenya organization, whose aim is to empower masses with the knowledge about cancer, support in preventing, detecting and combating the disease as well as fostering hope and resilience in the face of adversity.

“Our main objective is telling stories of cancer survivorship to dispel the myth that once one is diagnosed with cancer that is the end,” says Yvonne.

According to the World Health Organization, the female gender is the strongest breast cancer risk factor. Approximately 99 per cent of breast cancers occur in women and 0.5-1 per cent of breast cancers occur in men.

Certain factors increase the risk of breast cancer including increasing age, obesity, use of alcohol, family history of breast cancer, history of radiation exposure, reproductive history, tobacco use and postmenopausal hormone therapy.

Breast cancer symptoms include; a change in the size, shape or contour of your breast, a lump which may feel as small as a pea, thickening in or near the breast that persists through the menstrual cycle, a blood-stained or clear discharge from the nipples and a marble-like hardened area under the skin.