How Golda Clementson stood up to cancer and won

Oct 16, 2017 News

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“Never throw caution to the wind…HPV which causes cervical cancer can be caused by sexual intercourse. Get used to going to the doctor or the nurse or some health worker and get screened and take your partner along too. Get checked every six months or at least once every year because cancer will not be kind to you…”

 

By Sharmain Grainger

Something isn’t right…

This was the thought that constantly bombarded Golda Clementson when her menstrual cycle trickled on for days after it should have ended.

She had done her first Visual Inspection with Ascetic [VIA] test in 2010, which revealed no presence of the cancer causing Human Papilloma Virus [HPV] in her cervix.  She was, however, due for another test in 2015; but that change in her cycle was such a bother.

“Normally I would get my cycle for about four days but suddenly I found that after the four days I would continue ‘spotting’ for about three more days,” recounted Clementson during a recent interview.

In fact, the East Bank Demerara resident recalled experiencing the same ‘spotting’ effect after sexual intercourse.

“I was very concerned about this because I knew that something was up and I needed to go check it out.”

Even before the date ascribed to her for a follow-up VIA test, she decided to seek medical attention. It wasn’t surprising to her that while being examined by her doctor, there was a bloody discharge.

Soon after the examination, Clementson overheard the doctor’s suspicion, and it was nothing that she had expected.

“Cancerous cells in my cervix!  I knew there was something wrong, but not cancer!” related Clementon.

But there was a sliver of hope. Cancer could not be confirmed until a biopsy was done. The biopsy was basically an examination of tissues from the cervix to confirm or rule out the doctor’s suspicion.

The biopsy was done and by October of 2015, the verdict was in. Clementson, a mother of five, was officially diagnosed with stage two cervical cancer.  “Surprisingly, I did not break down; I didn’t become emotional at all when the doctor told I had cancer. I somehow got an inner strength and I knew I was going to beat this thing…all I wanted to know was, what was the next step for me?”

The doctor, Clementson deduced, was dumbfounded by her response. But in her mind she had already ascertained that “I was stage two and that should be early enough for the doctors to do something to help me.” She held on to the idea that she had a fighting chance and immediately took the doctor’s advice to visit the Cancer Institute of Guyana. After an examination, a doctor at the Institute suggested that she did a few sessions of chemotherapy at the Oncology Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC]. While she did not lose her hair like some chemotherapy patients do, Clementson said that the chemo administered to her caused her abdominal pains that were worse than giving birth. This was often compounded by bouts of cold-sweat. Radiation was no better. In her words, “it was a real hell of a humble for me.”

The effects of radiation to her body included burning and complete discomfort when she attempted to defecate. “My sister who was there for me, when she saw what I was going through, she would say ‘that is agony girl’.”

But Clementson did not allow herself to even think of dying for one second. “I kept saying to myself, I will get past this. I took every treatment I had to get, even when I had to pocket the cost when it wasn’t available…God helped me to find the funds somehow,” recounted the now 43-year-old.

In light of the fact that “cancer treatment is very, very expensive and not always available,” Clementson has mounted an appeal for a special funding to be made available to cancer patients. “There were times my white blood cells were so low, I had to buy injections to boost me up to keep going with the treatment. But not always people will be able to buy what is required to keep them going, so the Ministry [of Public Health] has to look into this,” urged Clementson.

After treatment, she followed advice to undergo surgery to remove her cervix to decrease the possibility of the return of cancer. Several post-surgery tests later; and Clementson has been deemed free of cancer. Today, she lives by the slogan “early detection can save lives.”

Her advice to women is to, “never throw caution to the wind…HPV which causes cervical cancer can be caused by sexual intercourse. Get used to going to the doctor or the nurse or some health worker and get screened and take your partner along too. Get checked every six months; or at least once every year, because cancer will not be kind to you.”

Thus far for this year, more than 200 cases of cancer were diagnosed at the GPHC alone. This is in addition to a number of other cases that were previously diagnosed. Although the hospital has not released statistical information about the types of cancers, it is however viewed as one of the more prevalent and daunting diseases the health sector has been waging war against. In so doing, the Ministry has launched an HPV vaccination campaign designed to target young girls before they have sex. The intent of the campaign is to reduce the risk of these girls contracting HPV during their later years.

According to Dr. Latoya Gooding who  has had a hand with dealing with cancer patients at the GPHC, while breast cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer in Guyana, cervical cancer has been accounting for more and more cancer-related deaths.

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