AWODUMILA FOLASAYO
ON CERVICAL CANCER
Aminat the
first and only child of her mother, lived in a remote city in Kaduna, she had
step brothers and step sisters from her step mum; Amina’s mum became the second
wife of her dad as a result of the rendezvous her father had with her mum and
thus resulted to her birth. Aminats mum (Fatima) was just 18 when she got
pregnant, she was young, inexperienced and quite innocent, Fatima married (Isa)
Aminats father cause of the pressure mounted on her by her parents that she
can’t give birth in her parents’ house, she had to give birth in her husband’s
house, she wasn’t ready for the whole marriage thing but she got married to
satisfy her parents request.
Fatima got
married to Isa but was an unhappy young woman, she went through the stages of
her pregnancy unhappy, and she eventually gave birth to Aminat but died in the
process.
Aminats Step
mum (Aisha) already had four children she was nursing so she saw Aminat as a
burden and thus maltreated her at every opportunity, Aminat became a slave in
her father’s house cause her father was never around he was a rolling Stone.
Aminat was
scarcely given the opportunity to attend school, she only attended elementary
school cause her step mother frustrated every effort of her furthering her
education, and all she does while her step brothers and Sisters went to school
is to stay back at home and do house chores. Aminat grew up with no love and no
one to care for her, at sixteen, she met Zainab, Zainab was a call girl and
while Aminat narrated her story to Zainab, Zainab advised her to leave her
father’s house and fend for herself, she introduced Aminat to the business she
does to survive. Every night Zainab and Aminat went to brothels to sleep with
different men. At Sixteen Aminat was a professional sex worker. Aminat soon
became an hot cake cause she was exquisitely beautiful, she had this Northern
beauty, she was dark and had the most enticing figure eight (as people would
call it) she had a strangely dark curly hair, she made money as a sex worker
but she yearned to get an education, and so Aminat trained herself through
school; she was quite smart and brilliant, so making it through school wasn’t a
hard nut for her to crack.
Aminat
trained herself through school while sleeping with different men; she was a
different person in the morning and a totally different person at night; this
went on for years; till she graduated as a lawyer; she was called to bar and
then became a barrister.
Aminat
secured a job at a law firm within a year after her youth service corps, while
working she met Donald a nice looking young man from Delta State, Who works
with one of the multinational company; Donald’s love for Aminat was simply love
at first sight, he was driving home that day and decided to fuel his car, while
he drove into the petrol station, he saw this young beautiful lady paying off
the petrol attendant after she had gotten fuel in her car, he looked at her for
minutes before she entered her car and zoomed off, Donald traced her with his
car, he got to know where she lives; did some findings and got to know where
she works; Donald began sending flowers to her, Chocolates and the likes.
Eventually Aminat met the mystery guy. They decided to have dinner together and
they connected at every level, Aminat was very free spirited and enjoyed
Donald’s company; things sparked up between them and Donald proposed, Aminat
accepted his proposal and thus preparation for wedding began.
Two months
to their wedding, Donald and Aminat travelled to Dubai for a romantic getaway,
to escape from the whole wedding preparation, it was beginning to weigh Aminat
down and Donald decided she needed a break and so they planned a trip to Dubai;
they had all the fun they could at Dubai, Aminat had some little time to rest
and shop for her wedding as well.
One fateful
Saturday afternoon, just after a week they got back from Dubai, Aminat noticed
she was bleeding through her vaginal, it wasn’t time for her menses to come she
said to herself, she didn’t take it too serious, she thought perhaps her menses
came earlier because of all the stress
she’s been going through planning her wedding; after some weeks she started
experiencing pain around her pelvis, she had abnormal vaginal discharge; she
started losing weight and so she went to the hospital, getting to the hospital,
they ran a test on her and it was discovered Aminat had Cervical Cancer; worst
still she had an advanced stage of cervical cancer. Aminat broke down in tears,
she was meant to be married to the most amazing man on earth in a months’ time,
her whole world came crashing down before her very face, how did she get
cervical cancer she kept asking herself, she stayed in door for days, refused
to pick Donald’s calls.
Donald on
the other side became worried and drove down to her place, he knocked several
times but got no response, he was certain she’s around, cause her car was well
parked in the compound; he kept knocking still got no response, called her
lines got no response, he became scared, he called on people to help him break
the door, when they broke the door in, Aminat was lying on the floor, almost
dead, she had drank to stupor, Donald quickly rushed her to the hospital. After
she regained consciousness, she told Donald of her status and that she only had
few days to live, Donald was devastated; he saw his whole world crumbling and
he can’t do anything about it.
Aminat died
some days after and Donald started a cervical cancer awareness foundation in
her name. While we live life at the fullest lets always remember that
everything in this life has its repercussions, it might not come at that time
you are living your best life, but it might come at the time you need your life
the most, be moderate in all you do.
CERVICAL CANCER is a cancer that arises in the
cervix of the uterus (womb)
In the Early
Stages of Cervical Cancer, it may not cause symptoms, as the cancer IQ
progresses, the most common signs and symptoms of cervical cancer include
1) Abnormal Vaginal bleeding
2) Increased vaginal discharge
3) Bleeding after going through
menopause
4) Pain during Sex
5) Pelvic Pain
CAUSES OF CERVICAL CANCER:
1) Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection
2) Having many sexual partners
3) Smoking
4) Birth Control Pills (Oral
Contraceptive) used over the long term
5) Engaging in early sexual contact
STAGES IN CERVICAL
CANCER
1)
Stage 0 : This Stage is not a true invasive
Cancer
2)
Stage i: There is a small amount of tumor
present that has not spread to any lymph nodes, organs, or distant areas of the
body.
3)
Stage ii: The Tumor has spread beyond the
cervix and uterus, but does not invade the pelvic walls or lower part of the
vagina
4)
Stage iii: The Cancer has grown into the lower
part of the vagina or the walls of the pelvis. The Tumor may be blocking the
uterers (tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder)there is no
spread to other sites in the body
5)
Stage IV: This is the most advanced stage, in
which the most advanced stage, in which the cancer has spread to the bladder or
rectum, or to sites in other areas of the body.
REDUCING THE RISK OF CERVICAL CANCER
1) Go for routine pap tests
2) Follow up on abnormal pap smears
3) Get vaccinated: We have a Vaccine for
Cancer (Two vaccines, Cervarix and Gardasil are available to protect against
the types of HPV that cause the most cervical cancers, as well as anal cancers
in men. Your doctor will discuss the dosing schedule with you. These are the
recommendations for HPV vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC)
4) Practice safe sex
5) Quit Smoking
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