Rastafari matriarch urges women to be breast alert
Published:Saturday | October 9, 2021 | 12:10 AMKaryl Walker - Sunday Gleaner Writer
Breast cancer survivor and Rastafari matriarch Lorna Wainwright is urging women to be vigilant about their breast health, driving home the significance of detecting symptoms early to overcome the disease.
Wainwright, who is on the road to recovery after enduring six weeks of chemotherapy and four weeks of radiation to battle the leading cancer among Jamaican women, which claims roughly 300 lives annually, told The Sunday Gleaner that it is crucial for women to keep making constant checks.
“Sisters, check your breasts. When you bathe, feel up your breasts. If you even feel a pimple, take it serious,” Wainwright said in an interview to mark October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
A central figure of the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica for upwards of 40 years, Wainwright has worked closely alongside Rita Marley and ran operations at the Bell Road, Kingston-based Tuff Gong recording studio and record-distribution company for most of her professional life.
Wainwright has maintained a holistic lifestyle and thought she would be last in line to contract the deadly disease.
Sadly, breast cancer takes no prisoners.
“I missed my mammogram in 2018, and in 2019, I was travelling. Then the whole COVID thing came in, and it was not until September 2020 that I felt a lump. When I went to the doctor, I found out it was a nine-inch tumour and that I had an aggressive strain,” Wainwright disclosed, adding, “Early detection is crucial.”
Fortunately for her, the cancer – which is believed to have developed because of a genetic trait as two aunts were victims of the dreaded disease – didn’t spread.
“I am on the road to recovery, both physically and mentally. I am anointed. The aggressive strain that had proved to be a genetic trait, I survived this because I checked. Women, check! The brothers also need to check up on their wives or significant others,” she said.
One in 22 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Jamaica, and more women under the age of 25 are being diagnosed with the disease, according to the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCA).
The cost of a mammogram is typically hovers around the $20,000 ballpark and that examination should be done annually. It can be an astronomical bill to foot for the average Jamaican woman, but the JCA has a lifeline of sorts as it offers the test for $5,000.
According to chairman of the JCA’s Jamaica Reach to Recovery, Carolind Graham, who is also a breast cancer survivor, public education about early detection on this important health issue can go a far way in saving lives.
Women must check their breasts, she said.
“Early breast self-examination is absolutely important. If you find anything abnormal, reach out to someone. Early detection saved my life. Early detection of breast cancer can reduce the morbidity rate among women,” Graham said.
Breast cancer victims often get depressed and internalise their condition without seeking treatment, but according to Wainwright, that is the recipe for disaster.
“Don’t curl up in a ball. Don’t let your nerves put you in the closet and make you cry. It is hard, but you have to deal with it. You have to be strong,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.
She unabashedly paid tribute to her three children who have, as she puts it, been a bedrock of support in removing her from the closet and forcing her to face her carcinogenic demon.
“I have to give a special big-up to my three babies. They did not allow me to curl up in a ball and cry,” she said.
What can I do to reduce my risk of breast cancer?
Getting regular exercise and keeping a healthy weight can help lower your breast cancer risk.
Many factors over the course of a lifetime can influence your breast cancer risk. You can’t change some factors, such as getting older or your family history, but you can help lower your risk of breast cancer by taking care of your health in the following ways:
• Keep a healthy weight.
• Exercise regularly.
• Don’t drink alcohol, or limit alcoholic drinks.
• If you are taking, or have been told to take, hormone replacement therapy or oral contraceptives (birth-control pills), ask your doctor about the risks and find out if it is right for you.
• Breastfeed your children, if possible.
• If you have a family history of breast cancer or inherited changes in your BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, talk to your doctor about other ways to lower your risk.
Source: CDC