Anita Bennie was up late watching television one night in March last year when she passed her hand across her right breast and felt a lump. In a panic, she rushed to the mirror to further investigate and noticed that indeed there was a small lump.
“I was very scared because, you know, I have seen on television about what you should do when you see a lump in your breast and what it means. So that whole night I could not sleep,” Bennie told Stabroek Weekend in a recent interview. She was later diagnosed with cancer and while it has been a tough road, the 39-year-old is speaking about her experience to encourage more women to get themselves checked and not stay quiet because of the stigma attached. She knew what she had to do immediately after she noticed the lump, but said it was not the same when she had to be operated on for fibroids, non-cancerous growths that develop in or around the womb (uterus). She knew something was wrong for months but was afraid to visit the doctor. In the end, she was forced to and had to undergo almost emergency surgery.
