Cancer survivor Kalara Vusoniwailala shares her experiences of battling breast cancer at the Pinktober – Virtual Chat Session organised by the Fiji National University.

Cancer survivor Kalara Vusoniwailala is urging people to pay close attention to early breast cancer warning signs and take heed of the advice given by the specialists.

Vusoniwailala made these comments at the Pinktober – Virtual Chat Session organised by the Fiji National University’s (FNU) Office of the Registrar.

The Suva businesswoman shared her experiences of battling stage 1 breast cancer publicly for the first since she was diagnosed.

When she first discovered a lump, Vusoniwailala stated that she “decided to run away from it and thought that it will go away on its own.”

Fortunately, she had informed her mother about this, who then made sure that Vusoniwailala got tested.

“I’m a classic example of someone that didn’t listen to everything that’s around. I didn’t listen to the advice that was being given to me. I didn’t listen to the awareness campaigns – and all of those things that you are supposed to do when you find out that you have a lump. I just didn’t listen.”

Cheerful Vusoniwailala acknowledged the support of her family and friends who ‘saved her life.’

“There is a spirit of deception that’s trying to get people to not listen to all the early warning signs. We tend to have the mindset that we are safe and nothing as such could happen to us.”

“Even though I wasn’t listening, I had people who intervened and made sure I got through all the medical processes. These people intervened – they didn’t allow me to just ignore it, which made me sort of listen to their advice.”

Vusoniwailala encouraged the participants of the session to start following the advice that is available in different forms such as advertisements, campaigns, live chat sessions and so forth.

“I got early intervention so I ended up with stage 1 cancer. Whether I will survive or not – the answer is only if I listen to all the advice being given to me.”

Medical Practitioner at FNU, Dr Henry Waqa highlighted that early detection followed by the proper medical intervention is the crucial part when it comes to breast cancer.

“We can safely say that detection begins by noticing abnormal changes in the breast and most of the time it can be detected during self-examination. Almost half of all breast cancers are found during self-examination.”

Dr Waqa added it was important to carry out monthly breast examinations as this will enable one to become familiar with what is normal and what is abnormal.