Latest update October 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 15, 2017 News
By Sharmain Grainger
Bittersweet is perhaps the term that can probably best describe Ms. Debra Lowe’s battle with cancer. Although she fought valiantly and won, the disease was able to simultaneously wreak havoc in the life of a close family member.
As she endured treatment after treatment to save her own life, her husband Rickford Lowe’s fate was not to be the same. In fact she simply couldn’t see the reason for her survival if it was to be without her closest friend and supporter.
But her reason for survival might have merely intended to be a testimony to others that there can be life after cancer. And indeed there is.
Lowe, who was a few years ago diagnosed with stage-two breast cancer, has been sharing her experience with others inflicted with the disease in the hope that they too could be able to muster up the necessary courage and strength to battle on.
EARLY STAGE
Health workers from time immemorial have encouraged women that aside from annual medical check-ups, they too could exam their own breasts to help detect any unusual signs. Often they are told to pay attention to the development of any lumps in the breast. But in Lowe’s case there were no lumps. In fact the only strange development in her breasts that evoked any concern was a dimple in her right breast.
The dimple appeared during the course of 2013 and, according to Lowe, “it was big enough to fit the tip of one of my fingers.”
Realising that the dimple was not budging, Lowe said that she decided to seek medical attention. She certainly didn’t suspect cancer, but she simply wanted to know what was causing the noticeable change to her breast, Lowe related during a recent interview.
She, moreover, visited a private institution where both a mammogram and ultrasound were done. Nothing untoward was detected from these two procedures.
By December 2014, the dimpling was even more concerning as it started to present with a “tingling” sensation. “There was no pain or anything like that, but it just had me thinking about it,” Lowe disclosed. She again decided to seek medical attention. After being attended to by a Gynaecologist at another institution, Lowe was referred to the same private institution where she was first attended to. However, this time around the result of her examination was very different. “The doctor checked me and said ‘you have cancer and you have to do surgery!’”
ANOTHER DIAGNOSIS
The diagnosis definitely came as a surprise to Lowe and her husband who’d accompanied her. Never before had either of them been in close contact with anyone with cancer. “All I knew about cancer is that it was something that you didn’t even want to say the name. I never knew of anyone in my family having cancer,” noted Lowe. But the doctor hadn’t a clue that Lowe was petrified by the thought of cancer.
Shored-up by her husband’s support, Lowe on the same day decided that she wanted a second opinion. At another private institution the diagnosis was again confirmed.
A sample for a biopsy was taken from her breast and sent off to India. Five weeks later, January 13, 2015 to be exact, the sample returned. Lowe remembers the date well as it was the very day she and her husband celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. [It would turn out to be the last anniversary they celebrated.]
By then Lowe had learnt about the Cancer Institute of Guyana and there she took the results of her biopsy. A few examinations later, Lowe was informed that her condition required four bouts of Chemotherapy and a surgical procedure too. But this was not all. She still required three more bouts of chemotherapy and 25 sessions of radiation in hopes of ridding all traces of cancer.
Chemotherapy for her started immediately and, according to Lowe, it wasn’t easy. “I was seeing death, but my husband was my strength and he helped me to cope. Together we decided that we were going to beat this cancer,” recounted Lowe.
WORST FEAR
But by March of 2015, Lowe recalled that her husband’s health started to deteriorate too. A visit to the doctor would confirm their worst fear. Lowe’s husband, like her, was afflicted with cancer. “He was diagnosed with lung cancer,” said an emotional Lowe of her husband. Although her husband was a smoker for a number of years, Lowe insisted that it wasn’t proven that smoking was the cause for her husband’s affliction.
“I might be in denial, but I don’t want to associate my husband’s cancer with smoking. I know that he smoked for a really long time and I do wish I had told him to stop, but he is gone, and there is nothing I can do today,” said Lowe.
She added, “With my husband’s diagnosis, it was like the stress of cancer was starting all over again for me.”
Both Lowe and her husband, an engineer who was for many years attached to the Ministry of Public Works and then Public Infrastructure, were now on treatment.
“Even before my sickness we always did everything together, so it was no surprise that both of us would start to take treatment together,” related Lowe, as tears welled in her eyes.
But according to her, “We became the poster couple for taking treatment together…we went to clinic together, we did what we had to do to fight cancer together; we were taking it a day at a time,” said Lowe.
It was imperative that Lowe and her husband rely on each other, as the majority of their close family members had long migrated. However, they always extended their support as did the couple’s two sons.
Lowe said that she and her husband were determined to live. However, by November 2015, cancer got the better of her husband.
“He was going so good at first. After he finished his first three chemo, he was doing so well and we were positive. But by the next set of chemo he developed breathing problems,” recalled Lowe. On November 25, 2015, Rickford Lowe, an engineer credited with the construction of the Berbice Bridge, was pronounced dead.
“It took a tremendous toll on me…physically, emotionally and mentally. We had so much planned,” Lowe recounted.
Although she lost her passion to fight, Lowe continued to cling to life, because she remains convinced that her husband would have wanted her to. Today she is labelled a breast cancer survivor who is convinced that it was because of the support of her husband she was given a new lease on life.
Even as breast cancer awareness is observed this month, Lowe has been sharing, with whoever will listen, that family support is a crucial factor in fighting a dreadful disease as cancer.
October 1st turn off your lights to bring about a change!
Oct 19, 2024
– Major step in Guyana’s football development By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sprots – A momentous occasion in the development of football in Guyana took place yesterday with the...Guyana’s shift into the US orbit Kaieteur News – For decades, Guyana prided itself on an independent foreign... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]