Janet

Janet Muthoni Wachira is a delightful and interactive 35-year-old woman whose smile is an embodiment of vitality. Janet works at the AMPATH Supply Chain department under RSPO as the Ag. Deputy Supply Chain Manager. Janet had heard about the importance of cervical cancer screening as the clinical service was offered within her work area at the Chandaria Cancer and Chronic Disease Center. Janet was later diagnosed with carcinoma in situ (an early stage of cancer) in September 2018 and successfully underwent treatment. This is her story.

Janet

Janet Wachira was at her workstation with her colleagues when a fellow colleague came to the office and passionately spoke about the importance of cervical cancer screening. The women in the office together with Janet went to the Oncology department to have the cervical screening done. On this particular day, Janet found out that she had a positive VIA outcome which led to colposcopy and a biopsy was performed for further investigation. The biopsy result revealed that she had carcinoma in situ which required the surgical extraction of a cone biopsy as treatment.

Janet was shocked by the news given that she already knew that cancer is a serious matter and also, her family has had its share of cancer. Janet’s father was diagnosed and succumbed to pancreatic cancer and other relatives including her grandparents had colon cancer and breast cancer. Indeed, Janet was worried and her family was very anxious about the colposcopy results which revealed early stage cancer.

Once the results were out, Janet and her family were very hopeful that she would receive the best treatment as she was under the care of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s gynecological team. Janet was given three treatment options and taken through each process by Dr. Elly Odongo who took over her case. With proper guidance and counselling, Janet chose and received the cone biopsy treatment within the facility. Two days after the surgical treatment, Janet was out of the hospital with no additional treatment. Janet asserts that making the choice to be treated swiftly was easy as she was already aware of the effects of cancer and that early treatment does have a positive impact.

Janet said that she was very happy to have discovered the problem early as delays could have resulted in a different outcome. Through her ordeal, Janet has become a cervical cancer ambassador sharing the importance of early cervical cancer screening to her colleagues and family.

Janet’s message to women is that cervical cancer is not a death sentence and early treatment changes the outcome. Moreover, if the cancer has progressed, Janet still believes that it’s not a death sentence. Janet’s advice to all women of cervical cancer screening age is that early screening is vital and should be done repeatedly as recommended.

Today, Janet is fairing on well and actively at work at the supply chain department. She has been attending her scheduled appointments with her gynecologist to ascertain complete healing and recovery. 

Special thanks to Jean Jesang, MTRH Cervical Cancer Screening Research Assistant, for helping us tell Janet’s story