‘When the neighbours heard cancer, they deserted me’

Farzana Ahsan is still living with the stigma of developing breast cancer

LAHORE: When Farzana Ahsan was diagnosed with breast cancer, she and her family’s world came crashing down.

Yet, they learnt to accept the diagnosis and take the disease head-on. People less accepting were those around her; be it neighbours, friends or mere acquaintances.



“It is 100% curable, but there is need to initiate an extensive drive against the stigma attached to the disease,” she says, now having battled with a killer and won.

“My husband, although not educated, is a caring and responsible person,” she says, recalling the time when doctors diagnosed her with the condition. “He immediately took me to Shaukat Khanum Hospital where the doctors treated me.”

She adds that when family members and the neighbors heard about her disease, most of them distanced themselves. “It remains a stigma for them.” Farzana adds that even her elder daughters had to leave their education due to the financial hit caused by the fight with breast cancer.

“Those were very difficult days for our family. However, let me tell you that my story can serve an example for those who feel that life is over after being diagnosed with cancer,” she advises. “No matter what happens, you can never lose hope.”



Farzana now teaches Quran at a local seminary. Although her financial condition, and that of her three daughters, is bleak, the mother is happy that she has been able to battle through the illness and emerge victorious.

Oncologist Dr Ali Shazif from Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital tells The Express Tribune that breast cancer is 100% curable and there are several examples of patients who are leading successful lives after treatment. “I know former patients who have now become cancer doctors and are serving at the Shaukat Khanum hospital,” he adds. “All that is needed is early diagnosis so they may continue with their lives without any stumbling blocks,” he continues.



He says since Pakistan has no national cancer registry, it is an overall challenge to conduct local empirical researches on breast cancer.

“However, Shaukat Khanum Hospital is doing extensive research at the Punjab level and it is openly available on the website of the hospital,” he adds.

Pink Ribbon, a local NGO, is extensively involved in research on breast cancer and intends to construct Pakistan’s first hospital dedicated to the disease. The organisation believed that 40,000 women are diagnosed with the ailment every year.

Pink Ribbon CEO Umer Aftab, while talking to The Express Tribune, says the nonprofit is taking on the construction of a breast cancer hospital as a challenge. He hopes to provide the best possible treatment, cancer diagnostics and treatment facilities to patients who cannot afford it.  Aftab says the journey to the eradication of breast cancer from Pakistan is now in full swing.

“We have seen some stats there are 1,650,000 women being empowered through proper information about the disease, whereas 850,000 girls were reached through a youth programme in coordination with HEC,” he says.

The oncologist states that apart from awareness drives, the hospital has provided clinical examinations to almost 29,000 women, along with 3700 mammograms, in coordination with the Atomic Energy Commission of Pakistan.

“I do believe that in the upcoming years, we will be able to eradicate breast cancer from the country,” he concludes.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2017.