Cancer patients need family, love and support
Being informed that you are diagnosed with cancer, can never be easy, whether you are a man or woman.
It can be a devastating experience in your life. You would think that the world is crumbling.
Only cancer survivors would be able to relate their experience of how they felt when they received the bad news of being diagnosed with cancer, how they survived and how they managed to get through it.
This month in support of Pinktober, Fiji Sun has been running stories of cancer victims and each one has their own stories.
A cancer survivor story that could touch the hearts of many married couples is the one which is being featured on Page 18 of today's Fiji Sun.
A young woman found out she was diagnosed with cancer. She thought she was going to die. All kinds of thoughts ran through her mind. The thoughts of her children's future came crashing down.
“How did this happen? Who will look after my children? Will I see my children get married?” are some thoughts a woman may have.
However, the couple's crisis strenthened their relationship. They drew close together.
It was something they never imagined could affect them. They thought that such a dreadful disease was going to tear their family apart. However, it brought them closer. Asena Driso, a cervical cancer survivor, made her husband stand strong by her side and ensured she received the best treatment. He taught her to strengthen her faith and their bond in marriage.
He held her hand through thick and thin, throughout the whole therapy. Despite her attitude towards the family and not wanting to talk about cancer, her husband told her they would work through it.
“I knew that my wife will look after my children and my children will see their mum grow old with me,” he said. There are many other cancer survivors whose husbands have left them, those whose families have abandoned them during the worst times of their life, a time when they needed family support and love.
When our loved ones have cancer they should not be alone.
Husbands may find themselves in a difficult position of supporting their life partner while managing their own distress.
I guess it's never easy for anyone but either way, someone in the family needs to be strong and remain positive. One day you may ask yourself “where was I, when he/ she needed me the most?”
Let's hope we never get to that point.
For the first time there is constitutional protection for tenants who lease land. We have also now made it legally possible for leases to be issued up to 99 years. Voreqe Bainimarama Prime Minister