After serving her country for 36 years by advancing knowledge and receiving accolades for her achievements, her desire to become a home teacher and provide assistance to youngsters in her neighborhood was dashed while fighting for her life after being diagnosed with breast cancer five years prior.
In anguish, Madam Victoria Huno, a 63-year-old retired teacher who was just diagnosed with breast cancer, discussed her struggle with Kasapa FM news anchor Akua Oteng Amponsah.
The crew left Accra for Afienya at the crack of dawn on Tuesday. They arrived at their destination at precisely 10:15 am, and an 18-year-old girl who helps Madam Victoria with daily tasks in the house guided them to her residence.
She described her ordeal, saying that it had started a few months before to her 2014 retirement from service. According to Madam Victoria, she had an odd ache in her left breast that prompted her to have a mammography at the 37 Military Hospital. However, no abnormalities were discovered because all tests came back negative.
After retiring from the teaching profession in 2014, she continued to experience pain. She then went to Kumasi in 2018 to see Breast Care International and had her breast inspected when she got the shock of her life.
When she returned to Accra, she went back to the 37 Military Hospital where she asked to be transferred to the Korle-Bu Teaching hospital in 2018.
She was then compelled to undergo testing, including a chemotherapy test, before having a bursectomy in 2020 to have the left malignant breast fully removed.
After the surgery, she believed her battle with breast cancer was over; however, she still had to undergo radiotherapy, a year of injections, more testing, and routine checkups.
ALSO READ: GNAT advocates the reinstatement of corporal punishment in schools
Producing a three-square daily meal became a difficult nut to crack because the money from her two children and ex-husband could not also be enough, even if she managed to subsist with the little savings while in active service, it wasn’t enough to keep her up to her drugs.
She has been treated well by locals from her village, creditors, former students, and a few people she knows. But getting access to the medicines required for quality medical care has become difficult.
She explained that she is a diabetic and sickle cell sufferer who is unable to eat properly and who lacks the funds to pay for her medications to keep her healthy when I questioned why her condition hadn’t changed even after surgery.
The immediate association, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has consistently rejected requests for financial assistance.
In response to her hardship, GNAT was informed that although there is a cancer fund that supports teachers in similar conditions, the 2014-established fund could only help teachers who were actively teaching at the time it was established.
After review last year, retirees have been included to the assistance program, with the restriction that only those who retired after 2022 are eligible.
Despite this, GNAT had frequently helped retirees whose conditions were dire.
Madam Victoria’s health hasn’t been the best lately, therefore she’s asking the Ministry of Education, cancer support organizations, people, stakeholders, etc. to get involved.
Join our WHATSAPP GROUP and TELEGRAM CHANNEL to get all relevant teaching resources to make your lessons effective.
Subscribe to this blog and follow us on facebook
