After five unsuccessful attempts with IVF, I was told that I had cancer of the ovary. Surgery was carried out at a popular hospital on the Spintex Road in Accra where the affected ovary was removed and another fertility treatment followed, this time, a self-injectable. Within 6 months, a big tumor started developing aggressively from the lower part of my abdomen to the upper part. Another surgery was quickly done, supposedly to remove the tumor, and my second ovary was also removed in the process.

I am a 34-year old mother of three. I live in Cote d’Ivoire. I am also a sickle cell patient. I reported to a doctor in Abidjan with a lump in my right breast and another one in my arm pit. I was referred to the leading hospital in Accra where the specialist removed the two lumps. Shortly after that, I started to feel pain in my breast and I was told to start Chemotherapy. When I saw those who were receiving Chemotherapy and how hopeless and almost lifeless they looked, I was seized with fear.

I was told that I had cancer of the liver and was referred to the teaching hospital in Accra, where the specialist told me that I would not live beyond six weeks. I was sad and angry at the same time, because I expected the doctor to tell me kind and comforting words. My family immediately flew me abroad, to the hospital at Johns Hopkins University, USA where I started treatment under a caring doctor. I returned to Ghana after the initial treatment. When I went back for review,