When all you need is hope, family matters

MASTURA Hj Mustapha was a healthy, middle-aged mother of six with no history of chronic illnesses in her medical report card when the biggest blow of her life was delivered she was told she had cancer.

Having gone to the doctor as soon as she began experiencing continued vaginal discharge, one of the symptoms of cervical cancer, in January 2008, it wasn't until nine months later that she learnt she had the disease after a biopsy from the gynaecologist revealed that a tumour the size of a lemon was forming in her cervix.

Her world came crashing down right after. She reacted how any fit and healthy woman would after receiving such news: she was devastated, distraught, and at first, in denial; it was incomprehensible to her that she was a cancer patient.

"At the time I was asking why, why is this happening? There has to be something," says a fresh-faced Mastura at her home in Kg Sinarubai after finishing an aerobics session with her workmates in Bukit Shahbandar, where she is a regular.

"I couldn't stop crying thinking that I would die; that I will not be able to be with my children and husband; because I knew cancer is a deadly disease.

"I didn't think I would ever be diagnosed with cancer. I've never had any sort of chronic illness my whole life; I was still able to carry out my job and daily duties as usual; I was still able to go jogging. And there hasn't been any history of cancer in my family."

However, Mastura is one of the fortunate ones to have discovered the cancerous process while it was still in its early stages (2B, where the the tumor has extended to the upper part of the vagina, and beyond the cervix into nearby tissues toward the pelvic wall), and doctors were telling her and 49-year-old husband Hj Saini Hj Md Don that she had an 80 per cent chance of successfully removing the growth.

"At first I was shocked when I received the news. But the doctor's assurance that my wife had a high chance of removing the tumour gave me confidence," says Hj Saini.

As is customary for many cancer patients in Brunei, Mastura was sent to Singapore for treatment, and would spend the next two months in the city state receiving chemotherapy and undergoing radiotherapy at Singapore General Hospital's National Cancer Centre.

"It was sad. We left for Singapore just more than a week after Hari Raya began, and my children were going through their school exams. The tears didn't stop from the time I departed Brunei until I reached Singapore. I didn't think I was ever going to come back again," she recalls.

But when she needed moral support the most, her family was there. Her husband, children, siblings and a large part of the extended family took money out of their own pockets to visit. Every Thursday night, prayers and doa selamat would be conducted and recited at both their apartment in Singapore and at home in Brunei.

"With us around, it lifted her spirits. We understood what she was going through. It was as if she wasn't going through it alone," says Hj Saini.

What gave Mastura the determination to recover, she says, was seeing some of the older patients in Singapore having to take the bus to receive treatment. "And these are people who are paying for it themselves," she says.

"I remember there was one elderly Chinese lady who suffered from some form of throat cancer use the bus to get treatment. She couldn't eat through her mouth. They were feeding her through a hose in her nostrils.

"One had his legs bandaged so thick, and yet he was still using the bus.

"Seeing all this made me realise how fortunate I was. It made me stronger and more determined to recover. I was thinking if they can do it, so can I."

She also met other Bruneians there, in particular an old lady from Jerudong who was also a cancer patient. "She was already on the verge of giving up and didn't want to receive anymore treatment. 'I'd rather go home. If I die at least I'd die at home,' she told me once.

"I sympathised with this woman, because I knew where she was coming from. So I told her to be patient, and tried, on my part, to play some sort of motivating role to lift her downed spirits."

The strongest motivating factor, however, was that she wanted to see her first grandchild the day she was born (her eldest daughter was three months pregnant when she was undergoing treatment). Nine chemotherapy and 27 radiotherapy sessions later, she was ready to go home.

Mastura was one of the invited speakers for a forum held in conjunction with World Cancer Day by the Ministry of Health on February 4, where a Pap Smear Registry was also launched by the ministry in line with the event.

"Prevention is better than cure. Don't be scared to undergo treatment that is given, because we in Brunei Darussalam are very lucky to get free healthcare and treatment from His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's government... because if it depends on our own money, it is uncertain whether we can afford them," she said during her speech.

Latest statistics available show that cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women after breast and lung cancer. Between 2002 and 2006, Brunei has seen a 71 per cent increase in the number of cervical cancer cases.

Despite this increase, only about 30 per cent of Bruneian women undergo pap smear exams (a screening test which can detect the precancerous stage of cervical cancer when the abnormal cells are in the outer layer of the cervix and have not spread to the deeper tissues), while a coverage of 80 per cent of the female population is required to reduce significant incidences and deaths resulting from cervical cancer.

The Brunei Times