Women’s cancers are curable, just get to a doctor soon enough

When one of Sarita Singh's (name changed) friends insisted that she accompany her for a cancer screening camp last October, the 38-year-old homemaker had her apprehensions. "It felt unnecessary since I had always been healthy. But, it was scary at the same time. What if something was detected? I thought I wouldn't want to know if there was anything wrong with me," says the mother-of-two, who eventually got screened and discovered that she had some pre-cancerous changes of the cervix.

The good news was that her condition was at a curable stage. Soon, Singh and 12 other women, who had attended the camp and were diagnosed with the same condition, were successfully treated. "Most cancers in women are curable if detected in earlier stages," points out Devieka Bhojwani, vice-president of the Women's Cancer Initiative (WCI), an organisation which aims to create awareness about the early detection and cure of women's cancers. It was founded in 2003 by Bhojwani, a breast cancer survivor herself, in partnership with the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH). WCI is one of the NGOs partnering the Stayfree DNA I Can Women's Half Marathon to be held on March 11.

The camp was organised by WCI, along with preventive oncology professionals from TMH, among women from poor families across Mumbai. Among the 521 women who came forward for testing, 63 showed some abnormalities and were further evaluated with colposcopic biopsies. Singh was among the 13detected with pre-cancerous changes of the cervix. "Two women were detected with an early stage of cervical cancer and were again taken up for curative treatment at TMH," Bhojwani adds.
WCI has been trying to create more awareness about the importance of early detection of cancers and of approaching a doctor well in advance.

Bhojwani says annually, over 200 women are able to undergo curative treatment for breast and cervical cancers because of financial backing from WCI. The organisation also has monthly support groups for patients and survivors who meet social workers, counsellors and doctors.