theSun | THURSDAY FEBRUARY 5 2009
INTERVIEWS VIEWS
gloom. That is why I am a socialist,” she says
without batting an eyelid.
Breast cancer education is imperative and
in a country with a multi-faceted fabric of
cultures and social mores, the resource centre
at UMMC aims to educate women on breast
health, self-examination and early detection
and treatment.
Yip has seen cases in late stages as there are
those who prefer to seek alternative therapies
before seeing a doctor – and she has also seen
patients with burn marks on their breasts,
caused by lighted joss-sticks administered by
faith healers.
“Patients seek the help of bomohs,
mediums or consume herbal concoctions
and even wear magnetic bracelets hoping
the tumours will shrink. The latest craze is
mangosteen juice,” she added.
“Some patients are afraid of doctors but
not nurses,” chips in Umi Kalthsum. “Patients
on follow-up sometimes disappear and the
resource centre which keeps a registry tries
to locate them.”
Umi Kalthsum says some patients are even
afraid of biopsy needles, thinking that, when
Brave Belinda battles
the blight
by Joseph Masilamany
“HERO” is usually tagged to characters in films,
sports celebrities and even winners of TV reality
shows – or to those who win an accolade after
political or social lobbying. Real heroism is far
tougher to identify but it is all around us, though
it only gets token space in the news.
Each time I called stage-four breast cancer
patient, Belinda Bateman, 40, for an interview
appointment, the ringtone in her handset comes
alive with the upbeat song Four minutes to save
the world by Madonna and Justin Timberlake.
Belinda’s ringtone, somewhat resonates with
what Ralph Waldo Emerson (American essayist,
philosopher-poet) once said of courage: “A hero
is no braver than an ordinary man, but is braver
five minutes longer.”
When faced with adversity – folk who cling
to “optimism” or whose “resilience” hangs high
as the party balloon or when their “placidity”
renders magic flavour to life are those who stand
as signposts with an immutable effect on people
around them.
Belinda was in the Philippines when she found
herself in a malevolent whirl. While being treated
for injuries suffered in a fall, the swelling on her
left breast, initially thought to be trauma caused
by the fall, proved otherwise.
Suspicious doctors performed a biopsy and
found a seven centimetre long tumour. It was
malignant and at stage three.
Shock does not come easily to Belinda, who
has lived life like the metaphoric bird which had
had its “feathers plucked out one by one”. The
mastectomy on her left breast was surgery No
23!
Since birth, Belinda had undergone 22 surgeries
to help her cope with a rare debilitating condition
known as congenital multiplex arthro-gryposis.
Life dealt another blow when the single mum’s
only daughter, Rennay, 5, was diagnosed with
the same condition.
While recuperat-
ing from her
mastectomy,
Belinda’s em-
ployer walked
in, not with a
Belinda (centre) shares a light moment with her mother Marie and niece Keeshia.
œ 13
the procedure is performed, the cancer will
spread to other parts of the body.
On the sudden surge of breast cancer
worldwide, Yip said, women may be living
long enough to reach the age at which they
are more susceptible to the disease.
“Personal choices women make in life, like
marrying late, having fewer children, that too
relatively later in life, and breast feeding only
for a few months, leaves them vulnerable to
breast cancer,” Yip added.
Decades ago, not many wanted to even
talk about it. Breast cancer strikes the most
profound of a woman’s asset – where the
motherly and the erotic are embedded.
The symposium at San Antonio not only
opened a floodgate for oncologists to congre-
gate and exchange ideas but also elects a new
way forward – highlighting breast cancer
science – where scientists issue information
on the latest research and drugs in the pipe-
line, that may beat breast cancer mortalities.
With new drugs and new pathways to stop
its metastasis (spread), hope for the “new
woman” is not far from being a tangible
reality.
bouquet of flowers, but a letter which he “cajoled”
her to sign. The letter read, as she was a liability
to the company, she would be “rewarded” with a
return ticket home, if she resigned voluntarily.
“I signed the letter,” she told theSun, without
a tinge of bitterness against anyone or at life
itself. Back home she continued treatment at
the UMMC and is now under palliative care – the
cancer having spread to her lungs.
Belinda discontinued the cycles of chemo-
therapy midway, preferring the quality of life to
the ravages of the treatment itself. “My daughter
gets traumatised to see me in the condition and I
want to spend more time with her,” she said.
Lapsing into sentimentality or being sopped
in the “why me?” cesspool where time rusts and
life stagnates is not the way for the questing
Belinda.
As tumour cells course through her blood-
stream, the pain-beleaguered Belinda, manages
to ease the distress with a strong concoction of
liquid morphine – specially prepared for her.
The zest to stay melded in the mainstream has
also pushed her to prepare the family lunch one
day. She accomplished the chore, while retreating
to her room in regular intervals, to breathe wisps
of oxygen from her portable kit.
“We will all die one day. For some it comes
earlier, for others it takes a longer time. We just
have to make the best of the time we have,” said
Belinda, who has also spoken at breast cancer
forums.
Belinda also looks forward to her weekly visits
to the hospice where she brings cheer to others
and is often asked the “secret” behind her placid
composure.
Sometimes succour comes to the distressed
from the most unusual place or from the most
unexpected person – and in Belinda many see
quintals of the heroic.
Her life-script issues a strong lesson for each
one of us. That life is a school with no syllabus,
where question papers are not set and there are
no model answers to rely on.
Oh how hallowed is this tutorial from Belinda
– to be “braver five minutes longer” … and to
lend just “four minutes to save the world”.