Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Cancer made her a speaker

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Zahra al Kindy, is a cancer survivor who detected it late but has been able to survive and find inspiration from it. Now she wants to share it with the rest of the community the lessons she has learnt. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer Stage Three in 2016. Most people don’t make it to Stage Four as many do not survive Stage Three. I will be honest and say that I went through shock and denial at that moment. As for me I was too late to detect it therefore I had to start treatment immediately. Chemotherapy made me depressed because I could not accept the disease, I could not accept the sympathy from everyone and I could not accept that I could collapse and go down because of cancer. I was young to think of random checkups.”


Writing down her fears made her strong.


The hospital where she was being treated began to give her mental support. They made her write down all her fears. “This somehow made me stronger I think to overcome my depression. And I fought back. Whenever I wrote my fears down it turned out to be a positive thing. Later when I became even stronger I began to support other patients in the hospital. I took the path around the disease and I did not go through the disease in a negative way. What came to my mind was that I had a message to deliver, I felt I was given the disease to take a new direction. So I moved on.”


When it comes to early detection she says one has to discover one’s own body. “Doctors cannot do it for you. If you have a pain in the chest and if you do not explain it rightly, the doctor may not be able to come into the correct conclusion. We should be able to differentiate the types of pain and that is the tricky part,” she said.


Recovering gave Zahra a new level of confidence. “With God’s grace I overcame cancer and I came to the stage where I wanted to share my experience with the public. Some women still hesitate to share their fears and experiences, the pain and depression we go through and not to forget the scary nights as there are stages when we feel we are dying.”


Today she speaks to her audience in large number or small number about the importance of accepting the situation but most importantly understanding your body. “Actually when cancer attacks you it is not painful at all. So it is very hard for you to detect it and very hard for you to explain about the pain. The pain comes when we go through the treatment.”


When she started speaking at events she realised people were thirsty to know more about cancer and how patients feel to understand what cancer victims go through.


“People want to know what pain we go through. The sleepless nights and what we fear about. What I understood is that people do not die because of cancer people die because of the side effects after the treatment. And not everybody dies because of cancer. My advice is have faith, know your body, stay safe — do not smoke because our immune system need clear oxygen to inhale, quit junk food and preserved food.


We need to stop putting chemicals in our body so that our immune system is stronger.


We need to get enough sleep because our cells need to grow healthy and they do that at night. They need to fight the disease as well. And remember what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that is what happened to me.


“People who survive become optimistic and they want to give more love to their husband and children. The unmarried women who survive cancer have a vision of marriage different from the traditional thinking. They do not consider it as a drawback that they have gone through cancer. The people I have seen come out of cancer feel they can do better with their family. Life is more beautiful after surviving cancer!”


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