Getting a cancer diagnosis can turn your life upside down, physically, emotionally, mentally and more, but you have to keep positive and have faith.

That was the message to those suffering from cancer from Kamla Sinanan, 70, who was diagnosed with stage 2 cervical cancer in 2013.

Sinanan, of San Fernando, became aware of her issue when she started spotting. It lasted for several months, but she thought it was the start of menopause, so was not concerned. But when she started getting severe stomach-aches she went to a doctor.

The doctor examined her and saw nothing wrong, but he knew the pain was not a good sign and referred her to another doctor. She had both a Pap smear and ultrasound exam, but there were no signs of a problem. Yet, the doctor knew something had to be wrong, so he suggested she should have a dilation and curettage (D and C), a procedure to remove tissue from inside the uterus.

The results showed she had cervical cancer.

[caption id="attachment_1138517" align="alignnone" width="980"] FILE - A doctor holds a vial of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil. Research published on May 23, 2024, by the American Society of Clinical Oncology suggests the HPV vaccine is preventing throat cancer in men, as well as cervical cancer in women. -[/caption]

Sinanan said when she got the news she was “frozen.” As he explained her situation and the possible treatments and made an appointment for her to see a gynaecological oncologist, she felt nothing.

She recalled one of her two daughters picking her up from the appointment, but she said nothing about her results. As devout Hindus, they went to prayers. It was only when they returned home, when her husband and all three children had arrived, that she sat them down and told them the news.

“I think I am a very strong person when it comes to those things. But I broke down then for a few minutes. I think it was because it was the first time I saw my eldest daughter cry like that. I saw her heart was breaking.”

She went through six weeks of treatment at a private facility – chemotherapy once a week and radiation five days a week, including internal radiation.

She said she was very comfortable with her two new doctors, as they had great bedside manners and their kindness removed a lot of her fears.

She said the first week was difficult as her body had to adjust to the treatment. And being a very shy and private person, she said having to take her clothes off around strangers and the internal radiation felt dehumanising and like an invasion of privacy.

“I felt like less of a human being after the internal radiation treatment.

"It’s not that anyone treated me badly. I can’t ever complain about the treatment I got, from the doctors to the nurses and the technicians. I never felt as if I was a patient there. It was more like family.”

Fortunately, she had no hair loss, as the chemotherapy was a low dose. But she was very tired all the time and, even now, she did not have the same level of energy she had before the treatment. Other residu