KOTA KINABALU: Many women still opt to seek traditional treatment when they detect lumps in their breasts, says the Kinabalu Pink Ribbon Association.
Association president Lucilla Pang said that based on their work on the ground creating awareness on this matter, they learn that for many especially rural folks, seeking treatment was a scary thing.
It also involves a lot of costs for the lower income groups, she said.
“We hope to see how to widen our scope of work and create awareness because many still prefer to keep quiet or seek traditional treatment when they have lumps on their breasts, which could be a first sign of breast cancer,” she said.
“Hence, we hope to expand our branches to other parts of Sabah, creating awareness on early detection and treatment options but we need a lot of help to make this work,” said Pang who herself is a breast cancer survivor.
She said one important and pressing objective they were working towards now was to establish a permanent halfway home for breast cancer patients and their caretakers to provide better services to the community.
She said they are currently using a house provided by the Prima Jaya developer, but this premise can be taken back any time the developer wants to.
“So, we need to get a place of our own by raising funds and hopefully getting some funding from the state government so that breast cancer patients especially those from lower income groups and rural areas can benefit from it,” Pang said.
She said the non-governmental organisation, which focuses on creating awareness and providing support to breast cancer patients for the past 12 years, truly needed the halfway home for them to grow and to serve the community better.
“We see many patients coming from rural areas having to spend a lot on accommodation and transportation fees when they can barely afford to,” she said.
Pang said apart from having to suffer from the effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, patients and their families have to worry about whether they would have enough money to continue their treatment on a continuous basis.
She said though the treatments are mainly free or paid with minimal fees, other costs such as transportation, accommodations and daily meals for the patients themselves and their caretakers were quite heavy for many.
She said the halfway home they provide for now has only been operational for breast cancer patients for about three years.
Pang said the Kinabalu Pink Ribbon has over 500 members, most of whom were cancer survivors.
She said the Kinabalu Pink Ribbon is scheduled to hold its annual pink ribbon walk in conjunction with Mother’s Day in May and fundraising gala dinner in October, this year.
