Pamela Were: A doctor humiliating a cancer patient made me a caregiver

Tell us more about your organisation

At ICI, we provide specialised care and control services for cancer and other non-communicable diseases, besides educating masses on these illnesses. We also conduct research and congruent care across sub-Saharan Africa through multi-sectoral partnerships with government and non-governmental organisations.

You are mostly involved in community work, including mobilising people to get tested for cancer, what drives you?

Saving lives is my driving force. The fact that cancer is no longer a death sentence, particularly when diagnosed early, is a motivation to change more lives. If a community is well enlightened on cancer prevention strategies and early signs, the disease burden is reduced, and this is one way we’re impacting society.

Why did you choose the philanthropic career path?

This started way back when I joined a medical training centre to do a basic nursing course. After three months of orientation, I was posted to the surgical ward where we used to make beds for patients. A senior nurse, who was my partner, routinely left the bed-making duties to me. One time, while helping a patient sit up on their bed, I lifted her blanket and what caught my eyes was a colony of maggots, roving all over the fungating wound on her chest. I literally ran out of the ward into the hostel where I started packing my belongings to discontinue nursing. I received some counselling and thereafter continued with my training, but there’s no denying that the incident completely changed my perspective about life. I later learnt that the patient had an advanced cancer of the breast. Then came the question, “What can I do to make a difference?”

After completing the course, I was posted to a gynaecology ward where 50 percent of the patients had stage four cervical cancer. They had been referred to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), but no one was ever willing to escort them there. As a young nurse, I was always the option. At KNH, it felt uncomfortable being around frail patients with offensive discharge and flies buzzing all over. The nurse on duty sympathised with my situation and skipped the queue for us, only for the doctor on duty to start shouting, “Who are those stinking like Nakuru patients?” He looked at the file and, without any investigations, ordered me to go back and have the patient transfused. This was a real nightmare. In my heart, I said, “I will do whatever it takes to alleviate the suffering of these patients.” That is how my journey started, by investing the little I had. By then, my salary was Sh1,290, but God taught me the art of giving.

Before joining the ICI, what were you doing?

Working at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) Ampath Oncology, where I have been very instrumental in setting up palliative care and cancer services at the hospital and the larger Western Kenya region. I successfully coordinated an epidemiological research on Burkitt ’s lymphoma (Emblem), which was a multi-country case control study in East Africa, funded by the National Institute of Health in the US.

At MTRH, we worked together with other colleagues to develop the oncology nursing curriculum, where to date, I am still a faculty member and a mentor to students.

What can you say about cancer screening?

Screening saves lives. So, let us have the courage to get tested. Screening will not give you cancer if it’s not already existent, but will help you get intervention before the disease spreads to other organs.

What challenges do you encounter in your line of duty, and how do you overcome them?

A day never passes without coming across a desperately needy client. Cancer is synonymous with poverty, and sometimes prioritising between paying the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) bills and buying food for the family becomes a challenge. To assist cancer patients, I normally seek local support, which sometimes proves difficult, but once in a while we get some well-wishers to pay for health insurance. Children find support from Hope for Cancer Kids. Some counties also offset NHIF bills.

What is your greatest fear?

That if cancer care is not cascaded to the grassroots, the disease burden will ravage more lives.

What do your days look like?

My day starts at 4.30am with a morning devotion, then I prepare and have breakfast before leaving for work.

Depending on my work schedule, I either have a class, an outreach clinic where I mentor nurses, or our care and research clinics. I also have a consultancy for setting up cancer care services and community mobilisation for early detection and screenings. I juggle those which I juggle from day to day, together with policy and curriculum development meetings, professional development and public awareness webinars.

Who are your mentors?

 Ms Margaret Rose Abira and Evelyne Ogol. They were the pioneer nurses of Eldoret Hospice but relocated to the US and UK respectively. They were my seniors at work.

What are some of your achievements?

Being the pioneer nurse to spearhead the establishment of oncology services in Western region and attaining my dream of setting up a one-stop cancer care facility at MTRH. I am also proud of the development and implementation of curriculum for training of oncology nurses locally and the establishment of cancer clinics in four county referral hospitals in collaboration with the county governments.

I am one of the founding members of the Oncology Nurses Chapter (National Nurses Association of Kenya) that advocates for the Tobacco Control Act to be enacted in Parliament, besides being published in the renowned journals.

When you are not doing advocacy duties, where would we find you?

In my poultry farm or doing mission work.

Where do you see yourself in the coming years?

Running a hub of local cancer experts.

Parting shot?

Start small. Start with what you have, be passionate and you will impact the world.