October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month ‘Keep Positive and Keep Your Head in the Game’ “I knew my mind couldn’t be weak. This was mind over matter, and I planned everything meticulously.” She says the operation went well, and even though she lost all her hair due to the chemotherapy, she was still the only patient dancing during her chemotherapy sessions! “I asked my family to stay positive and to keep any negativity away from me. I wanted to absorb everybody’s positivity and it worked,” she says. Kubeshni, who has a 10-year-old son, says that staying mentally strong was key to this journey, and it is something she continues to do. She has one treatment left and will then have a full body scan before removing the port used to administer the chemotherapy. She is nothing but optimistic about her future. “Move forward with gusto in your step,” she says. “Cancer has made me look at life with eyes bigger and wider; it’s almost like I have been given a second chance.” Kubeshni says her faith, her positive mindset, and the support of those around her pulled her through. She has
Kubeshni Abrahams, a senior clerk at Drakenstein Municipality's rates and billing section, was diagnosed with breast cancer last year at the age of 39. Her mother had died from breast cancer when Kubeshni was only 12 years old. A woman’s risk for breast cancer doubles when she has a first-degree female relative (sister, mother, or daughter) with the same cancer. When she pressed a little harder and felt the lump in her breast last June, Kubeshni knew exactly what it was. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month . The incidence of breast cancer among South African women is increasing. Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among white and Asian women and the second most common cancer among black and coloured women. Kubeshni, who has been working for the Municipality for seven years, says she gave herself two days to let her diagnosis sink in before deciding that she was going to fight this illness with her mind. “Keep positive and keep your head in the game.” And that’s exactly what she did; what followed was a double mastectomy and chemotherapy.
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VARS | September
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