Aqela Tuiwainunu

Fijians diagnosed with cancer should not hesitate to seek treatment says a cancer survivor.

41-year-old Aqela Tuiwainunu, who is a school teacher, was diagnosed with stage three cancer in 2018.

Tuiwainunu admits she ran away from the hospital the day her results were revealed.

“Doctor Turagava had told me right there and then you have to begin treatment soon, you have to come in for chemo, you will have to go in for an operation, ladies and gentlemen that shook my world so I ran away from the hospital, I continued with my work. I decided my health was not important”.

She says she went for her surgery in 2020 through the assistance of colleagues.

“My male colleagues took it upon themselves to take me to Korovou hospital, from Korovou hospital to CWM hospital where I had my operation, where I had my chemo treatment done, I had it all done locally. We have everything available locally, there is a lot of talk about us going abroad for this, it’s all available locally”.

According to the Ministry of Health, sixty to seventy breast cancer surgeries are conducted every year while 130 breast cancer cases are diagnosed in both men and women annually.