IT is an uphill challenge for someone close to 70 to survive a cancer surgery and return to a state of normalcy or comfort, but Gwendolyn Agatha Pross has defied the odds and has got past not one, but three surgeries in three years.

Now 74, Pross, a trained Nurse Educator and former lecturer at the University of Guyana (UG), is doing well. She spends some of her time talking to fellow survivors, trying to instill in them that cancer is not necessarily a death sentence, and that they need regular check-ups for early detection.

Importantly, she stressed that, with God, there is always hope.

In 2008, the mother of four grown children, at 68, was first diagnosed with cancer in the thyroid glands after experiencing swelling in the neck.

Speaking with the Chronicle in the lower flat of her two-storey 72 Garnett Street, Lamaha Gardens home, Pross, who was in jovial spirits and appeared to be in good health, relaxing comfortable in her chair in the reading room, said it was while she was teaching at UG that she noticed a swelling in the neck, and on visiting the Woodlands Hospital for an ultrasound test, she was told that it was just a cyst, a swelling which will eventually go away.

GOT WORSE

She said the swelling showed no sign of easing, but instead got worse, and a colleague at the university advised her to visit a Cuban thyroid specialist at the West Demerara Hospital.

She said on examining her condition, the Cuban Surgeon informed that the swelling was serious, and requested that she be admitted to hospital. Her family, however, decided against her being admitted, as the distance from Lamaha Gardens to the West Demerara Hospital was too far. Instead, they took her to the St Joseph Mercy Hospital in Kingston, Georgetown, and following a check-up, she was advised to go to Barbados for further checks, which she did.

There, she said, doctors told her that about 8 to 15 per cent of the swelling could be cancerous; and incidentally, her daughter Samantha, who is a doctor in England, got wind of the news and arranged for her to travel to the United Kingdom for a thorough examination.

CANCER

A biopsy test (sampling of tissue as a diagnostic tool) proved that the swelling was indeed cancerous, but while arrangements were made for her to undergo surgery, the Nurse Educator developed a chest infection and the date for surgery was pushed back.

In the meantime, a friend of Pross’s daughter, who was a Professor, suggested that she be treated at the prestigious Cromwell Hospital in London, but she became extremely worried about the bill she would have to pay.

The mother of four said God works in mysterious ways. She pointed out that her daughter, who was trying to secure a position at the hospital but with little success, happened to be called by the hospital to work as a part-time consultant at about the same time. She became the first black Orthopaedic Surgeon to work at the hospital that treats the elites of the UK and Europe.

During the interview, Pross said she was told not to worry as she would be treated as a relative, and that promise was fulfilled. She noted that she received five-star treatment, and contended that “it was the best you could imagine”.

With a smile, the grateful mother told the Chronicle that God provides, but she said she had to return for radioactive iodine, which was a life changing experience.

She described the procedure as having to be locked away in a room, with doctors dressed in white robes and with their heads covered as though they were in space, attending to her.

GREEN LIGHT

Following the operation, she was given the green light on her health status, and after some consideration, she returned to her post as a lecturer in nursing in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Guyana.

All this happened in 2008. In 2009, her mother-in-law died and her daughter, who arranged for her treatment in the UK, came for the funeral and noticed that all was not well with her.

Samantha, she said, arranged for her to again visit the Cromwell Hospital for a check-up, and she complied, booking a three-week appointment with the intention of returning to work.

When she got to the hospital, Pross said, she underwent a series of tests, including a CT scan which was done by a garrulous nurse, who, after the testing, told her that Samantha will be picking her up as she waited outside the room.

She said that, at that time, the cheery expression on the nurse’s face changed, and her daughter, on collecting her, looked indifferent but told her that they have to meet a Consultant Surgeon named Mr Sellu.

SAD NEWS
Pross described Mr Sellu as a pleasant man, but said he broke her some unpleasant news. Pross was told that she would not be able to leave the UK at the time she intended, as she had been diagnosed with cancer in the colon, which was at the third stage, a critical level.

Colon cancer develops in the large intestine. Colons are about six feet long, and allow waste to travel from the small intestine to the rectum. The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre said the disease develops in the digestive tract from polyps that initially are benign, but mutate over time into a cancerous tumour. The cancer cells invade and destroy nearby tissue, and can break away to form new tumors in other parts of the body in a process called metastasis.

Pross said she was initially told that she might have to undergo a colostomy, but it did not happen. Colostomy is a surgical operation in which a piece of the colon is diverted to an artificial opening in the abdominal wall so as to bypass a damaged part of the colon.

This was prevented after she underwent six months of chemotherapy treatment of disease by use of chemical substances, especially the treatment of cancer by cytotoxic and other drugs.

Again, the nurse educator survived, with the overwhelming support of family, friends and colleagues. But this was not the end of it as, in 2010, when she did a follow-up check at the London hospital, she was diagnosed with cancer in the liver, and required urgent surgery.

The cancerous tissue was removed, and from then to now, the Garnett Street resident has had no further diagnosis, and is praying to God that there will be none, having experienced three of the most torrid years in her life.

A MIRACLE

With three surgeries during that time, and making it through all of them, Pross, a devout Christian, believes that her survival is a miracle.

She said that, through the Holy Spirit, she kept faith, overcoming nervousness and fear, as she felt reinforced by His love, power and invisible embrace.

“God”, she said, “is a healer and protector today, yesterday and forever”.

Today, Pross is a member of the Periwinkle Cancer Club, an organisation that raises awareness about cancer and provides counselling and financial assistance to members.

Pross told the Guyana Chronicle that cancer is still a taboo subject, and she called on all to break the culture of silence and speak out.

Victims, she said, need help, love and support. She contends that the grave illness is not necessarily a death sentence. Early diagnosis, she said, can ensure a victim lives a longer and less torturous life.

By Tajeram Mohabir