The frightening increase in Cancer cases

Oct 15, 2017 Features / Columnists, My Column

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This past week many things grabbed my attention. One of them was the rate of cancers, the other was a criticism of the government’s effort to promote small entrepreneurs. Both were astonishing, to the point that I began to wonder if something was wrong with this country.
For starters, I learnt that for this year alone there were some 200 new cancer cases. That translates to one new cancer case a day or that each day someone in this country of fewer than 750,000 people was developing a cancer.
I know that from time immemorial people were dying from a cancer-related ailment. As a little boy I watched people wither away and die because there was no radiation and chemotherapy. You got a cancer, you tell yourself that you just got a death sentence.
I lost two friends to cancer this past week. One of them was really a friend of my daughter’s. I knew her from her days at school and I watched her grow into a woman. When last I saw her, we had a brief chat. I remarked that she wasn’t looking too well, because she was being supported by her daughter.
Then I got word that she had died in a city hospital. She could not have been more than 45. The other person who died was not a very young person, but she was somebody with who I would chat often. When I heard that she had died, the first question I asked was whether she was ill. Her relative told me that she had succumbed to cancer.
The reporter who brought the story about the increasing rates of cancer in Guyana told me that in Guyana, there are no studies to indicate the number of cancer cases over the past five years. We spoke about this matter and one question I asked was whether the oncologists had any idea why this increase.
None could really say. What they did say was that breast cancer had surpassed cancer of the cervix (the latter caused by some sexually transmitted virus) as the leading cause of cancer deaths.
Earlier this year, two people were diagnosed with the latter. With the help of friends they went overseas for treatment. One of them is back and I could see that she was enjoying a new lease on life. The other case is a horror story for me.
I learnt that this person left with what she believed was a stage two cancer, very treatable. I then learnt that she underwent a surgical procedure which revealed that she had been misdiagnosed. The doctors reportedly went inside, looked and promptly closed her back up. For reasons of privacy, I would not comment more on this case.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the rise in cancers may be linked to our diet. Home cooked food is on the decline among many young people. Many are gravitating to the fast food outlets. I am not ready to say that the increase in fast food outlets is linked to the increase in cancers, but it is a phenomenon worth investigating.
Not surprisingly, the doctors all say that when a patient presents himself or herself, the cancer is far advanced. And I could understand why. Most of us are afraid to visit the doctor. Most of us do not have a primary care physician, so we live with our ailments.
Many of us are hypertensive, but we simply do not know it. Of course, hypertension is known as the silent killer. It is only when we get a stroke or some other ailment that we get the news from the doctor. By then we may be too far gone.
Of course there is a little machine that any of us could own. It is the blood pressure monitor. But we don’t own one, because for us, life is going on quite nicely.
I am hypertensive so I take care to control it. I exercise, watch my diet, and monitor my pressure regularly. I would be in a position to rush to the doctor knowing what my ailment is.
The other thing that caught my attention this past week was the criticism of Finance Minister Winston Jordan for suggesting that one should not look down at the ‘plantain chip lady.’ He was talking about developing small businesses, since the government cannot find employment for everyone.
Over the years I have seen people doing these little things and making a success of their lives. My grandmother was a large property owner in Beterverwagting. She had farmlands aback of the village so she grew ground provisions, fruits and sugar cane. She was rich by any standard, but to look at her you would never know. She did not have millions in the bank, but she raised nine children, bought and built three houses and always had food on the table.
There is one newspaper vendor who not only owns her own home, but who bought a brand new car a few years ago. My cousin is a vendor at Square of the Revolution and she is doing pretty well raising her children. Just yesterday she told me that she was planning to accompany her son to Barbados for some karate tournament.
These are only two. I see the people selling cook up rice by the big tree in the vicinity of the courts and I know they make money. There are people walking around with trays and baskets selling small condiments. I even see the people selling brooms.
Major cassareep and seasonings abound in the supermarkets. Major started very small. He never had to work with anyone. The list goes on. Those of us who cannot get a government job could very well work with ourselves. Many of us make money, but we are not recognized because we are not hounded by the tax man.
We do not make a noise, but we get along. I have relatives who are illiterate but who have more money than I do. I have an uncle in Beterverwagting who now owns a house that is the envy of many. One of his sons is rearing pigs. If only he was a bit more academically capable he would have been wealthy and doing much better.
If the truth is to be told, most of Guyana is self-employed. These people are doing very well. The call by Minister Jordan is no empty call, so all those who snigger are those who have a mindset that never developed any country.

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