“Focus on your recovery, focus on yourself and be surrounded by positive people,” says Pinelands police admin clerk and cancer survivor Noluthando Lusenge.
Members of the Pinelands police women’s network, the Pinelands Neighbourhood Watch and Pinelands Community Police Forum wore pink for a Breast Cancer Month walk through the neighbourhood on Friday October 18.
Private security staff, who marshalled the walk, and a pink fire truck supported the 3km walk along Jan Smuts Drive, Welwyn Avenue, Forest Service Road and Avonduur Road.
“We are raising cancer awareness and are here to show cancer survivors that we are here to support them,” said Pinelands police chief Lieutenant Colonel Darleen Koopman.
The station celebrated two staff members who overcame different forms of cancer.
Ms Lusenge, of Maitland, was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2018.
“I never thought that I would be diagnosed with cancer. I never knew much about cancer. I never thought that it could be me being diagnosed with cancer,” she said.
She underwent more than a year of chemotherapy.
“Chemotherapy was tough; it changes who you are, and the things you used to enjoy eating, you don’t eat anymore, and you feel nauseous most of the time.”
She has been free from cancer for the past five years.
Warrant Officer Deon van Aardt, of Elsies River, was diagnosed with bladder cancer six years ago.
“Going for chemotherapy and taking the tablets was the toughest part in going for cancer treatment,” he said.
He advises going for regular check-ups so that cancer can be diagnosed early for a better prognosis.
“The quicker it can be discovered the stronger the possibility it can be treated sooner, though if it gets discovered at a much later stage it can be life-threatening,” he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Koopman said: “There is hope and cancer is not a death sentence.”
