Kamunthowa, 53, is a fuel quality inspector for filling stations. He developed nasopharyngeal cancer, a rare type of head and neck cancer, which affected both his nose and mouth. Over 4,000 men develop cancer each year in Zambia. Lusaka’s Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH) has been providing treatment free of charge since 2007 and treats around 3,000 patients each year. Many Zambians are now able to see hope from a disease which many still consider incurable.
In early 2007, I began having difficulty breathing as my nose was getting blocked. At first I thought that it was just a cold, so my local clinic gave me some medicine but it didn’t clear it. I went back to see the same Clinical Officer. He now checked my nostrils and found that I had some growths inside. On seeing this, he referred me to the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist at the University Teaching Hospital, Zambia’s main government hospital in Lusaka. When I arrived they sent me for a biopsy to test what the swelling was. I needed two biopsies in the end because the results from the first one were not complete. The second biopsy had to be sent to a private laboratory, which I had to pay for. This was expensive for me as I was unemployed that the time.
While waiting for these results, my situation got much worse. My mouth became blocked as the tumour had spread there. I was straining to breathe and found I was choking in my sleep. The doctors had to cut a hole in my throat to make breathing easier. It was horrible.
I was sent for a CT scan to get a better look at this problem. As this was not part of the Cancer Diseases Hospital (CDH) I had to pay for it, and it was quite dear. My brother had to pay the 900 kwacha [$100] it cost as I couldn’t afford it.
At this stage, I was in a terrible state. By the time I was being admitted to CDH I had stopped eating and drinking all together. I could not even take a teaspoon of water through my mouth for a good three weeks, so I was put on a drip. My weight had dropped from 64 to 49 kilos. But once I started treatment I felt so much better within a short time. It was amazing. I soon started taking liquids like tea and soup through the mouth again and later began eating normally.
I had 56 doses of radiotherapy over the next two months with eight cycles of chemotherapy. This really helped me recover and I very quickly regained my strength. The treatment did have different side effects: I lost my hair and it affected my taste. It was funny in a way, because bananas and oranges all tasted like they had chilli in them, while sugar completely lost its taste unless it was in natural foods such as sweet potatoes. Salt was very strong so I didn’t add it to food at all. But now, I am very fit, and people do not believe my cancer story because I do not look like I had it. This is all thanks to the Cancer Disease Hospital and the staff.
