When it rains it pours!

When it rains it pours! Rose was diagnosed with stage 1B uterine cancer in 2015 following some tests.  At the time, she was working at a firm in Nairobi. Her employer was in partnership with a company that offered medical services and she, together with her colleagues, was among the ones tested.  When the first set of tests came back, Rose was required to have another test done.  She was confused and wondered what the issue was as she did not feel sick.

On learning of her predicament and after extensive discussions with the doctors who had tested her, Rose managed to raise some funds with the help of her colleagues and friends and begun her treatment which included surgery in June of 2016.

In the course of her treatment, early in 2017, her husband who had then just retired took ill.  He had developed severe chest pain.  The doctor requested for chest x-rays and after a series of tests, he was diagnosed with lung cancer Stage 4.  Rose did not know what to make of it.  She was back on her feet and had gone back to work though still taking things slow.  She saw her husband’s treatment as more pressing and with only one source of income, Rose opted to stop her treatment and focus on her husbands’.

While this was happening, Rose’s employer closed shop as the business was not doing well leading to her losing their only source of income.  And as if all this was not enough, relatives began to say that Rose and her husband must have done something wrong to deserve all these hard knocks. All their explanations fell on deaf ears and the relatives said that they did not want to be a party to what was happening and so opted not to give any assistance, financial or otherwise. Rose was devastated.  She felt like giving up on life but whenever she looked at her four children, she found the strength to fight on. Rose recounts how their children had to quit school and how her husband’s previous employer of 22 years would not give them any assistance as they tried all means to raise money. The latter makes her so sad especially when she remembers how her husband selflessly and tirelessly worked for the said employer. He gave his best but this did not serve him in his time of need.

Rose remembers once having taken her husband to the hospital at a point when his health had really deteriorated.  This was after his sixth chemotherapy session.  She fainted and when she came to, she found herself in the emergency section.  The doctor who had attended her asked her what the problem was and she told him her story.  At this point Rose was going through a lot of pressure and stress, keeping in mind that she too was struggling with her health and the situations at hand from her husbands’ illness, lack of finances, and daily running of her home, were not making anything easy for her.  He advised her to present a written request to the hospital’s C.E.O. for her husband to be treated and give assurance that payment would be made by all means.  Her fainting was a silver lining and even though she knew full well that she had no means to pay for her husbands’ treatment, all she wished for, more than anything else, was to see her husband get better.  To her surprise, the request was granted the next day but unfortunately, her husband passed away the same day the request was granted.

Rose fondly remembers the doctor who used to assist with her treatment after learning her plight he would occasionally call her and ask her to go for her treatment but since he passed on, she has not been able to go on with treatment as the task of catering for her family is solely hers and she has not been able to get employment.  She occasionally has been trying her hand in business that has kept her going and hopes to start a small shop that can keep her busy and cater to her family’s needs.

Rose says she chooses to live positively and is grateful to God for her health that she says is “miraculously good”.

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