Kenyan Woman Survives Breast Cancer by a Whisker, needs Financial Help

Lucy Gaiti, a breast cancer survivor from Dracut Mass. at her aprtment with Pitty Nderitu, a friend who is helping her in the tough walk aganist the disease. A dark area near her left breast can be seen where an open-ended catheter is inserted for long term IV medication for chemotherapy.

By Tim Kimani, Ajabu News Contributor.
DRACUT,Mass. JULY 03 __Lucy Gaiti, a cheery God fearing woman, recently decided to finally apply for a full health insurance after surviving for years on free care as a result of having unstable jobs.

Soon she was about to find out why it is so important to gave good insurance and be an active member of the community, far from home.

 As soon as her health insurance became active in early February 2009, Gaiti felt very lucky and decided to go for a full medical check up with her new doctor at the Lowell Community Health Center.

After a standard physical, Gaiti left for work and continued with her normal day-to-day life until she got a call from her doctor, Caralee Hansen, a few days later.

“Dr. Hansen kept calling and asking me to come down to the hospital immediately but I insisted that I was too busy picking up hours and yet we had not scheduled for an appointment,” Gaiti told Ajabu Africa.

 Finally, on the Doctor’s firm insistence, Gaiti went back to see the doctor and was referred to Lowell General Hospital.

At the Hospital, Gaiti went to see the breast Health Navigator and clinical nurse specialist, Susan Skinner.

 Skinner didn’t tell her anything at first but sent her for a mammogram. She then asked Gaiti whether she had any idea why she had been sent to Lowell General.

 “I did not know what was going on, but I started feeling a chill go down my spine. I started fearing”, the 43- year old woman from Dracut, Mass. said exasperatedly. “Could this be breast cancer?”, she  asked herself.

Gaiti told Ajabu Africa that she did not want to believe what was happening to her at first. “But I drew strength from God, which got rid of all my fears”, she said.

The mammogram showed a small lump on her left breast. That’s when Skinner patiently explained to Gaiti that the lump in her breast needed to be examined further to know whether it was cancerous.

At the hospital, Gaiti had to go through an intensive ultrasound, which confirmed that it was indeed a lump in her breast, not a cyst. A biopsy had to be done. This involves pulling out some cells from the lump and examining them.

In so doing, the doctors could know whether the lump was a major cause of concern. The biopsy revealed that the lump was indeed cancerous and spreading very fast. Urgent surgery had to be done to remove the lump so as to ensure that the cancer hadn’t spread further.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women, accounting for approximately 40,930 deaths in a year. These, among many other grim statistics, are enough to strike fear into anybody’s heart.

   Breast cancer is caused by a genetic abnormality and is the uncontrolled growth of breast cells.

Having found out this, Gaiti was referred to Dr. Rebecca Shore, the surgeon who would perform the surgery.

Gaiti coped with the unfolding drama of a lifetime through prayer and positive thinking. “I believed that I was cancer free and I always kept a smile on my face,” Gaiti says cheerfully.

However, at the back of her mind, she was still wondering what her two children back in Kenya would think if they heard about all this.

Her son, Dennis Gaiti, is currently studying for a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Nairobi, and the daughter, Margaret Njoki, recently completed high school.

 After much debate with herself, Gaiti decided not to tell them about the surgery, for now.

 “ I did not want to get them scared”, said Gaiti.

Surgery
 The surgery took place on the morning of February 11th, 2009.

On that morning, at 7:00 am, Pitty Nderitu, Gaiti’s close friend, dropped her off at Lowell General Hospital. The nurses and doctors prepared her for surgery and wheeled her to the operating room at 12:00pm. The surgery took 2 hours to complete. 

On her follow up, her doctor gave her very good news. "Contrary to expectation the lump was not big and it had not spread to the lymph nodes.This means that there was little chance that the cancer had spread to other parts of your body”, Gaiti quoted her doctor in what sounded like the best music to her ear she has ever heard.

Another close friend of Gaiti, Alice Morrison, who is a nurse and the Department of Care Coordinator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, advised her to seek a second opinion at the Dana-Farber Institute in Boston, one of the best cancer institutes in the US.

Gaiti took the advice, therefore Morrison began initiating Gaiti’s transfer from Lowell General to Dana-Farber.

While the transfer process was underway, Gaiti now summoned the courage to call her children to check up on them, still planning not to tell them about the unfolding saga.

 The conversation that ensued with her children took out whatever reserves of energy she had left.

Death in the Family

Her children told her that her mother (their grandmother) had passed away on that very day she told them she had paid a visit to the doctor’s office and a lump was discovered.

 Lucy was utterly shocked because she already knew her mother had earlier been diagnosed with low blood pressure but had been under medication and everything seemed under control.

“I   saw darkness enclose me and I felt like I could run out of my apartment in Dracut and keep running right over the pond next to our block. I just started screaming until neigbours came into our apartment to find out what was wrong”.

  Gaiti then picked up the phone and called her pastor, Rev. Dr. Karimi Mumbui of Kenyan Community Presbyterian Church ( Ushindi)  to ask him what to do.

However, according to accounts by some of her friends, Gaiti was incoherent and all she could tell the pastor was “my mother, my mother, my mother”, said Pitty Nderitu, who was contacted by the pastor on the phone to find out what was going on.

 “Gaiti didn’t take the news well. She got was very depressed”, said Pitty Nderitu, her close friend.

Gaiti put off her own treatment to mourn her mother, who had also been her close friend. She also knew that it wasn’t the right time to tell her children about her cancer treatment.

"Everything was going wrong in my life all at the same time.  I felt very overwhelmed”, said Gaiti.

However, with the support and endless prayers by her brothers and sisters in christ at Ushindi church in Lowell, she took it in her stride and vowed to move on.

One week later, her mother was buried.

It was at this point that Gaiti told her children about her treatment, news that they received and accepted.

They have been strong for her ever since. Gaiti resumed her treatment with renewed vigor, knowing that her children, her church and her community were supporting her.
 
Her transfer to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute was completed and a new check up confirmed that she was cancer free. “I was very, very happy. God had done it for me.”

 The doctor who took on her case, Dr. Karen Anderson, told her that chemotherapy was still necessary to ensure that any cells that may have spread to other parts of her body would be killed.

Chemotherapy would take 5 months to complete and would be followed up by radiation treatment, another precautionary measure against cancer spread.

She underwent minor surgery to have a Bard port implanted under the skin between her shoulder and armpit, a process she called “extremely painful.”

A Bard port is an open-ended catheter used for long term IV medication therapy.

Her chemotherapy treatment is done twice a month, with daily oral medications and biweekly injections.

 Her close confidant and friend, Pitty Nderitu, who is a Registered Nurse, volunteered to do the injections on a Visiting Nurse basis  at Gaiti’s apartment  so as  to minimize the insurance co-payments .

Gaiti, who has always been wary of drugs and medication, finds this continuous pumping of drugs into her body uncomfortable and exhausting.

 “The medicine makes me nauseate and feel weak. Sometimes I just feel like staying in bed. It feels very bad and I sometimes find myself crying.”

Gaiti however, is quick to point out that she has continued to have a positive outlook and always looks at her glass half full.

 “I know I’m healed and I believe that I’m going through fire, from which I’ll emerge stronger.”

Gaiti implores everyone, man and woman, to go for a medical check up at whatever age they might be at. “If you are a woman over 35, you better have a breast cancer checkup quickly. This thing can happen to anybody”, said Gaiti.

Men too need breast cancer screening. According to the American Cancer Society, about 1200 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in American men each year (compared to about 200,000 cases of breast cancer in U.S. women). 

  “I was just lucky   that my check up revealed the lump early enough when it is fully treatable,” said the ever excited Gaiti.

 She urges everybody to get rid of all fears and worries and just get it done.

Breast cancer has been attacking many African immigrant women in America in a big way. This is a matter of life and death. According to Gaiti, the doctors told her that if breast cancer is caught at an early stage, one can survive it.

"`But if you procrastinate and you are just a little late for a checkup, it may passe a certain stage, beyond which hopes of survival start dimming rapidly”, Gaiti warned.

As a result of this entire sudden ailment, Gaiti has not been working for more than five months now, the whole duration of her treatment and is not expected to go back to work soon enough.

With the bills, maintenance, monthly payments, not to mention tuition and upkeep for her children back home, finances have become really tight.

This would have been even more devastating if Gaiti had not just applied for health insurance through her work.

Gaiti is  thankful for her friends especially her two roommates who have been paying the rent for her without throwing her out,  and fellow believers from her church who have ensured that she has food on a daily basis as well as moral support.

 “People have been very supportive. My house has been full of people everyday and I get so many supportive phone calls. I’m very grateful and humbled,” Gaiti says.

 “Sometimes they make me feel like a baby, with everyone taking care of my every need”, she added laughingly.

Still, Gaiti needs all the help she can get financially as she weathers this storm, which she insists is only there for a short while.

A fundraiser will be held on July 12th at Ushindi Church after the service, from 2:00pm, to help alleviate the accumulating bills as Gaiti undergoes her mandatory chemo and radiation treatment.

The vice chairman of the appointed fund raising committee,  Stephen Kanyoni has asked all Kenyans and their friends  to turn up in large numbers at Ushindi Church for the fund raising.

Stephen Kanyoni, the vice chairman of the fund raising committee

 “When one is in a foreign country, all you can rely on when such trouble comes is your friends and your community”, said Kanyoni.

“We are appealing to all those who may know Lucy, and even those who may not know her, to come and help her reduce the stressful financial burden that is rapidly piling up,” Kanyoni added.

Those who reside out of state or those who may not make it to the fund raiser are requested to make their deposits at any Bank of America Branch, using the details provided below.

Asked if she is still scared of death, Gaiti says, “not in the least. I know that I am more than a conqueror.”

Fund Raising Venue
Kenyan Presbyterian Church( Ushindi)
452 Chelmsford St,
Lowell, MA.
01851.
Get directions

Bank of America Account details
Name: Lucy W. Gaiti
Checking A/c # :004627222856
Routing #:011000138
Zip Code: 01851
Contacts :781-244-7887