Johannesburg - Julia Shabalala doesn’t regret getting cancer at a young age. If anything, she says it has given and taught her more than she ever thought possible.
At 15, the now 25-year-old detected a lump on her breast, but tests concluded that she had fibroadenoma, a mobile, benign breast lump.
“The doctor was still cautious and said if the lumpy feeling stopped being mobile and felt like a rock, I had to go back for tests.”
Fast-forward nine years.Last year, Shabalala was thriving in law school, about to start a new exciting job and finding her feet as an independent adult when the cancer came back to haunt her.
To raise awareness of the importance of early detection in light of October being Breast Cancer Month, Shabalala – a Be Cancer Aware ambassador – spoke to The Star about her journey.
“Just after I had graduated, I started feeling like I had a bruise on my breasts… I could tell my right breast, my favourite breast, was not normal. But I had gone to a doctor who was dismissive that it could be breast cancer because of my age,” she said.
In the middle of her board exams, a doctor confirmed her fears; she had HER2-positive breast cancer.
With this form of the disease, the breast cancer cells in the body have a higher-than-normal level of HER2 receptors, which causes the cells to divide, multiply and grow more rapidly than normal.
“In the breast cancer cells there is a gene called the onco-gene. When present and over-expressive, the cells are more aggressive… It used to be the cancer with the worst prognosis because it was so aggressive, but now, with a drug called Herceptin, it has the best prognosis,” Dr Devan Moodley, an oncology specialist at the Wits Oncology Donald Gordon Medical Centre, said.
Shabalala’s life was a whirlwind since her diagnosis.
“You know how it is in movies when a patient is given bad news and they seem so far removed? I was like that. She (her doctor) was talking about referring me to an oncologist and I could barely hear what she was saying.
“The process began immediately, I had to do a mammogram, and from then on it was like moving from appointment to appointment.”
With the support of her family, friends and boyfriend, Shabalala underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy, a mastectomy and daily radiation for six weeks every day.
She also had to undergo HER2-targeted therapy.
Shabalala is also part of an initiative called Look Good… Feel Better, geared to assist women in managing the appearance-related side effects of chemo- and radiotherapy.
“I used to go to chemo with my make-up on… I also took control of the hair issue, and even though it hurt, I asked my boyfriend to shave it off before I watched it fall off. At every level of treatment, I was often the youngest in the room, but I feel like I was meant to get it… I feel like it was part of a bigger plan for me to spread the message,” she said.
Currently, she takes her treatment regimen every day and will do so for five years. She is also on a hormone suppressant for a year and a menopause injection.
But that hasn’t stopped her from living her life.
“Through the cancer I got to discover myself, who my true friends are and what family is about. I realise now that life is more than just about moments you plan. Cancer gave me a lot, I don’t regret getting it.”
The Star