UAE breast cancer survivors tell of experiences in awareness-raising film

The 2015 Safe and Sound Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign puts faces to the suffering that cancer brings in a bid to educate people.

Ghadeer Kunna, 46, a breast cancer survivor, is one of the four women featured in a short film to be shown this weekend to launch the start of a breast cancer awareness campaign. Mona Al Marzooqi / The NationalShow less

DUBAI // Survivors of breast cancer will lay bare their stories of hope in a short film to launch the 2015 Safe and Sound Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign in the UAE.

Vox Cinemas at the Burjuman Centre, in Bur Dubai, will screen the documentary with its health message on Sunday, from 10am.

Now in its 19th year, Safe and Sound has grown to become one of the Middle East’s most prominent breast cancer awareness campaigns.

In that time the charity has raised more than Dh2.5 million and helped to deliver its breast cancer awareness message to more than 25 million people in the region.

This year, the charity has been bolstered by a new partnership with Al Jalila Foundation, its official partner for 2015.

Sudanese-American Ghadeer Kunna, 46, had breast cancer diagnosed when she was 29. With the help and support of her friends, family and work colleagues at the Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi, as well as expert care from doctors, she is now in remission.

Ms Kunna, who has been in the UAE for nine years, underwent a double-mastectomy and, although she still needs to have regular check-ups, doctors have given her the all-clear.

Her survival story is one of four that make up the short film to be screened as part of this year’s awareness campaign on selected television channels.

“I believe in giving back, and the message in the film is part of that,” she said.

“At some point of the cancer’s mutation I was having lumps extracted three times a year. I deteriorated fairly rapidly, all I could do was brace myself for what was coming.

“I wanted to help with this campaign to spread the awareness. As I got better, it seemed like a good fit for me.”

Ms Kunna led an active life, ate healthily and did not smoke or drink. Yet she felt a small lump in her breast after returning from a jog. She was shocked by the diagnosis, particularly considering her healthy lifestyle.

“If you are destined to get something like breast cancer, there is little you can do,” she said.

The film features three other UAE survivors of breast cancer – Linda Berlot, Julia Goody and Brigitte Chemia, who received the diagnosis in 2007.

Ms Chemia is part of the Breast Friends support group in the UAE and is encouraging women to check that their health insurance will cover any treatment for breast cancer.

“When you get such a disease, you lose complete faith in yourself and your body,” she said.

“That’s why six months after my last chemotherapy, I decided to regain that lost faith and started karate, ballroom dancing and scuba diving. None of those sports were ever on my agenda before.”

Based on cases reported to the Friends of Cancer Patients Society charity in the UAE during the first half of this year, breast cancer was the highest form of cancer among women. Alongside Breast Friends, Al Jalila Foundation will provide a platform for increased awareness of breast cancer issues through seminars and workshops, with a focus on patients’ need for support and friendship during their treatment.

Dr Raja Al Gurg, chairman of the foundation’s board of directors, said: “Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among the UAE’s female population. Recent studies show the incidence of breast cancer has risen by 20 per cent over the past six years.

“Funding regional research and local expertise is essential if we are to fully understand this disease and provide patients with the high level of medical care and support that they need to fight it.”