Ailing Kenyan woman pleads for help  
By Tim Kimani, Ajabu News contributor  

Brockton, Mass.- “It’s very scary and very terrifying.” These are the words Victoria Mwangi, 53, recently used to describe her battle with endometrial cancer.

      Mwangi, a strong-willed woman and a devout Christian from Brockton, Mass., never imagined that the symptoms she felt in the fall of 2007 would end up in a diagnosis of one of the deadliest diseases in the world.

  A year later, a visit to Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Mass., hammered in the shocking news that she had endometrial cancer

 Endometrial cancer, also called uterine cancer, is a form of cancer that mostly affects women ages 50 and up. It is caused by a hormonal imbalance that causes the lining of the uterus to grow thicker and thicker, causing a build up that can harbor cancer cells.

      The doctor Mwangi visited at Beth Israel carried out a series of tests that came out positive for cancer and suggested that she undergoes surgery in February, she said.

   Everything, Mwangi said, happened too fast and the information overload was too much for her to bear.

   “I was so terrified because I had not expected the results,” she said.

    Mwangi went to the American Chinese Medical Center in Brighton, Mass., to seek a second opinion. She was convinced that surgery was not the only option and believed medicine was enough to cure her sickness. To her surprise, the American Chinese Medical Center also told her that surgery was the only way out of her situation.

Mwangi was scared and spent a lot of time doing research on endometrial cancer online, hoping to get other options to avoid surgery.

   She also visited another doctor in Duxbury, Mass. The doctor told her: “’Victoria, if you don’t do it, you are going to die,’” she said.

   Mwangi discussed her sickness with her husband, Rev. J.H. Mwangi, and their two children, Daniel and Rachel Mwangi. She had to prepare her children psychologically, and she told them that she was sick and was going to the hospital.

“The children were terrified,” she said.

Victoria Mwangi of Brockton Mass, who faces an uphill task fighting endometrial cancer. Pic by Family file

   The news didn’t augur well with the children. Mwangi said her daughter thought she was going to lose her mother. Rachael, she said, went into a depression and gained a lot of weight.

      Left with no choice, Mwangi decided to go for the surgery, which took place on April 16 at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. That morning, Mwangi, petitioned God for help before going to the theatre at 4 a.m. for the three-hour operation.

  The surgery went well and Mwangi is now recuperating at home. But being out of work has presented new challenges for her family. Mwangi, a certified nursing assistant is the family’s sole breadwinner, but she is unable to work for several weeks due to the surgery.

   Her husband, Rev. Mwangi, only does part-time relief work at a group home whenever the job becomes available and has no steady income. With two children to provide for, a mortgage and other recurring bills, the family is in dire financial straits and is seeking help from the Kenyan community.

   Mwangi said she said she had been paying for a short-term disability insurance, which she thought would pay her weekly benefits after the surgery, but the ownership of the company changed hands a few weeks ago, and the new owner has refused to compensate her.

     Mwangi said a few family friends such as Jane Wambu, Grace Ndungu and Stella Quartely have responded to their pleas for help, but they still need financial assistance.

“People bring food and visit me all the time,” Mwangi said.

Mwangi is scheduled to go for a check-up in August, which will reveal whether she will start chemotherapy and radiation treatments. As of now Njoroge’s fate remains in limbo, and all does these days is pray. Mwangi is keeping hope alive.

“It’s a hard road to travel,” she said. “You feel so traumatized. It’s very scary. There are people who say I’m going to die, but I have faith in God. God is bigger than everything.”

  A fundraiser is planned for Sunday, May 31. At 3 p.m. at 45 Enterprise St. Apt 20, Brockton, Mass to help the family.  (Get Directions)

People who are unable to attend the event can send their contributions to:

Harbor One bank

Acct. # 1101724126, Routing number: 211381372.

For more information contact:

Jane Wambu at (781)878-6771

Grace Ndungu at (508) 287-1148

Stella Quartey at (508) 410-2924 

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