allure 25102020

INTERVIEW
Eno Essien:
Life After Cancer
Words By - Yemisi Suleiman
In honour of breast cancer awareness month, we speak with Eno Essien, Managing Director
and CEO of Rheytrak, a Vehicle Tracking and Recovery company in Nigeria, who is a cancer
survivor and an inspiring young woman who fought life with a positive attitude.
For Ms. Essien, raising awareness about breast cancer holds a special place in her heart and her
voice has not been silent since overcoming the killer disease. She has spoken in many fora,
using her testimony to rekindle hope in people who have lost hope.
Eno who is the only female CEO in the vehicle tracking industry, shares her cancer story, life
after survival, career heights and more.
How old were you when you were diagnosed and
what was the diagnosis?
I was 30years old and the diagnosis was cancer of
the breast.
How did you feel when you were first diagnosed,
physically and psychologically?
I felt a lump in my breast and after series of
investigations, I had a biopsy done. The histology
result came in. I remember that early Wednesday
morning when a pastor friend came in, my mother and
the pastor sat me down and told me that the lab result
was out, and that the lump was cancerous. I was
consumed with fear. I was numb. I went blank. At the
time, I didn’t know people survived cancer so that
made it worse. I was in shock; in fact, I died, but God
strengthened me.
Who, what, or where did you turn to?
Those were days of roller coaster of emotions. It
became clear to me that I had to turn to God, trust Him
and believe every promise in my bible. My upbringing
as a Christian and my faith in the Lord, saw me
through the dark and uncertain days that followed.
I bought a new 4 in 1 translation bible and, that
turned out to be one of the best decisions I took. I was
able to read those promises in different translations
and that gave me a better understanding of them. The
only option I had was to have faith.
So yes, faith, the mustard-like faith in God was my
anchor.
How did your family take the news of your
diagnosis?
My family is the absolute best. They have been my
strength, extremely supportive. They held my hands
and walked with me. They gave me more strength,
courage, and support than I could have asked for.
They relocated with me to England. My mom was
doing her Ph.D. at the University of Lagos (UNILAG)
then and she gave it all up for me.
There was never a day I went to the hospital alone
even if it was for a blood test. My family was with me
throughout and kept all my hospital appointments with
me. I believe they were even more drained than I was,
having to care for me. I have the best family ever. They
have never left me even to this day. The sickness
brought us even closer
We know that a mammogram is the best test to
make an early diagnosis of breast cancer but many
women are scared because they think it is very
painful. What was your experience like?
I would not say a mammogram is painful, I would
rather say a mammogram is uncomfortable. I was told
that Mammograms are usually done on women aged
40years and above, this made it difficult for me to get
one done in Lagos. All the centers kept refusing to do
one on me despite telling them about the lumps I had.
Because my family and I wanted the best care and
based on advice from the surgeon in Lagos, within two
weeks of getting the diagnosis, we were out of Nigeria
and off to England for medicare. My elder sister who is
British by birth, lives in England so that was the first
choice. We met with one of the best breast surgeons in
England who incidentally is a Nigerian. He gave us a run
down on the way the treatment would go.
I had a lumpectomy, the lump, the surrounding
tissues and the lymph nodes suspected to have been
infiltrated by the tumor were removed. This was followed
by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The chemotherapy
agent is quite toxic and probably the worst thing you can
do to the human body. We said no to it. My mum was
vehement about it, she said it was a bad gamble, which
will be too destructive for me to be subjected to.
You see, medicine is practiced differently in some
places. They did not dismiss us nor become angry with
us. They assembled their entire team, surgeon,
oncologist, nurses, everyone and invited my family and I
and painstakingly educated us. Yes it was toxic, yes it
was destructive but medicine has made a lot of
improvement and moved forward from the last we knew
of it. They showed us why what they were offering us
was the best option, so at last we agreed and we started
on the chemotherapy.
The treatment was terrible. I lost all my hair, all my nails
came out from the nail bed, my tongue was black, eating
became an impossible task, I suffered neuropathy. It was
so bad that I was unable to sleep on the bed. I would fill
the bath tub with water and sleep inside it over night and
then have my family members take turns to check up on
me so I don’t drown.
Drinking water was such a challenge. It was a difficult
unforgettable experience. But the Grace of the Almighty
God saw me through.
Medicine keeps advancing and now people take
chemotherapy without experiencing all the sickness, pain
and torture I went through which is fantastic.
What kinds of things did you do to distract yourself
when you were going through treatments, either at
home or at the hospital?
The breast surgeon had hammered on how
important it was for me to try to live a normal life so, I
stayed as happy as I could most of the time, and did a lot
of fun things with my family. They took me on boat
cruises and several adventures and fun places. We did a
lot of retail therapy too. Cancer made me a happier
person and so I focused on living and loving.
The only thing I was not allowed to do was travel
outside of the UK, to avoid contracting any kind of
infection.
We know that about 10% of all breast cancers are
hereditary. Was that the case with you?
No, mine wasn’t hereditary; no one in my family
lineage ahead of me and after me has ever had cancer.
In your opinion do you think Nigeria is doing enough
in terms of creating awareness and treatment for
breast cancer, if not what would you suggest?
A lot of work is being done in creating awareness, it’s
an ongoing thing. I did not take my treatment in Nigeria
so, it will be unfair for me to comment based on the
unpleasant stories I hear without having experienced
what goes on.
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/ October 25, 2020