When you are diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, it’s easy to feel hurt and hopeless, but sometimes it becomes an opportunity to find strength you never knew you had. After being diagnosed with leukaemia in July 2022, Zoleka Maduna from Cape Town had to find meaning and purpose to fight the disease.
She explains that leukaemia is a blood cancer that begins in the bone marrow and makes your tissues weak due to the rise in the number of white blood cells in your body, thus hindering the body’s ability to fight infection.
Rapidly growing types of leukaemia may cause symptoms that include fatigue, weight loss, frequent infections, and easy bleeding or bruising. Maduna says she also experienced symptoms of infection, fatigue, and eating less, which indicated to her that she had a problem.
The battle begins
“I was diagnosed with leukaemia in July, but I only found out in August because of my inability to do anything. I had to immediately begin four rounds of chemotherapy, which were scheduled to take place from July until November,” she says.
“After I was hospitalised (day 3), my brain was full of blood, and I almost died. During that time, I had forgotten that I had cancer and it felt like I had lost my mind and memory. But they managed to remove the blood from my brain without performing an operation.
“The blood was in my brain, and I was out of my mind but physically fit, that was before I knew that I had leukaemia. It was four weeks later, I found out and was already done with the first chemotherapy.
“The doctors were happy that I was better than when I asked them ‘I’m better from what?’ I was shocked but better and they were convinced that I’ll pass over it.”
After being hospitalised for months, Maduna got used to eating healthy, and she says such lifestyle changes eventually helped her cancer treatment work effectively.
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Being cancer-free
“My cancer treatment targeted my bone marrow to see if it is working. And to my surprise, yes, the chemo was working, and they found out I didn’t have the cancer anymore after the third round of chemo, which was in October (2022). I also prayed a lot all the time because people died, so praying strengthened me and gave me a positive mindset.”
Maduna says the most difficult part of being cancer-free is the fear of reoccurrence, so she still takes medication to ensure that it completely kills the cancer and gets her immune system working effectively again.
“I would cry a lot when I think about my illness and it probably not being treatable. I still cry when I feel like that so that I can remove the burden.”
“I am scared of the cancer coming back, but I do trust my doctors at Tygerburg Hospital in Cape Town. They are honest and try by all means to help a person stay cancer-free.
“So I still do get some medication to make sure they kill the cancer and to keep my immune system in check. The slightest thing like having a fever makes me question whether the cancer has returned and it makes me anxious.”
Grateful to be alive
Despite the chemotherapy and making a few changes to her appearance, Maduna says she is grateful to still be alive, especially for her two daughters.
“I would vomit all the time and be weak due to chemotherapy. My mouth and tongue were sour and I wasn’t able to eat, I could only eat soft food. I felt emotionally insecure and stressed and I was also very scared of judgment from people.”
“The chemo treatment did make some small changes, but I recovered, and I’m beautiful. No one can tell that I was once extremely sick, and it’s surprising in such a short period of time. I just have a broken tooth that needs to be fixed.”
“After experiencing this, I would advise people battling cancer to avoid random medication from people claiming it will help. If it really did, don’t you think that would be the treatment for cancer?”
A good support system
Maduna advises people in the same boat not to look around but to focus on themselves, trust their doctors, be honest with them, and ask questions. “With that and prayer, you can make it over this hurdle.
“My family and my friends, the choir that I sing in locally, and my church are always supportive emotionally. They went on the journey with me and supported me. They were also scared of the outcomes but always stood by me.”
According to the Cancer Centre, there is no confirmed way to prevent leukaemia, but it may be possible to help reduce the risk of this type of cancer by making certain lifestyle changes and following healthy habits such as:
- Don’t smoke. Current smokers should seek help to quit.
- Keep a healthy body weight. Lose weight if needed, but speak to your doctor first.
- Avoid inhalation or lower exposure to chemicals that may raise the risk of leukaemia, such as benzene and formaldehyde.
- Lower any exposure to pesticides.
- Stay physically active and follow a healthy diet. Both of these lifestyle elements have been proven to reduce cancer risk in general.
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