Annette’s inspiring story
Annette Oelofse is a 63-year-old cancer survivor.
Diagnosed in 2012, Annette had found a lump in her breast and booked an examination with a physician in Windhoek, Namibia. Being a very physically active person who does not smoke, drink alcohol, or even take medication, Annette was not too concerned about the lump. Still, she decided not to ignore it and to get it checked.
A sonar was done, and the medical imaging classified it as fat tissue. Annette felt uncomfortable with the results as it was quite a large lump and decided to book an appointment with a surgeon for a biopsy.
These results came back as ‘cancer’. Annette had not been going for regular mammograms and had not consulted anyone about the lump for almost two months, as family birthdays were coming up, so she wanted to wait and not potentially upset or spoil birthdays.
Whilst Annette does have breast cancer in her family line, the diagnosis still came as a shock.
Her brother knew Dr Apffelstaedt and referred Annette to him. It was decided to book an appointment and travel to his practice in Cape Town, South Africa. The appointment was on a Tuesday, with genetic testing also undertaken and confirmation received that the BRCA2 gene was not present.
The cancer type was confirmed as Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma, Grade 3 and therefore, swift action was advised, and by Friday of the same week, Annette was undergoing a mastectomy with simultaneous reconstruction of the breast from body fat.
Surgery and reconstruction were followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment, and completed during 2013. Annette set herself one goal only: to regain her health.
During chemotherapy treatments, Annette’s husband passed away – they had just purchased property and had a business that required Annette’s full attention. Annette says: “I had no choice but to immerse myself in every challenge that was passing my way, on top of the cancer treatment. I learned to take every day at a time, chose the priority for that day, channelled my energy towards mastering the challenge and moved on to the next.”
There has been no recurrence of cancer since 2013, with check-ups conducted every year.
Annette’s advice to anyone diagnosed and going through treatment
- Try not to make any decisions right after every chemo treatment, but rather let it hang for three to four days, until you feel better.
- Do not hesitate with treatment, start as soon as possible. Search for the best breast cancer Physician, in my case, I could not have chosen a better person than Professor Apffelstaedt.
- Do not distrust their advice, accept the now and take the steps one by one forward. Concentrate on every step, pour your full energy into the now, once mastered, concentrate on the next step. Worrying about the future taps your energy.
- Follow your inner gut, tap into the core of your inner self, we are often unaware of how much strength we have, we often just skim the outer layer of that core.
Life is precious, there is no time to waste on issues, you cannot change. You have to accept, make the best of it and always look forward.
From Dr JP Apffelstaedt for the team at Apffelstaedt, Hoosain and Associates
“As the leader of the treatment team that looked after Annette, I am deeply grateful to Annette that she entrusted us with the management of her condition and hope we justified that trust.
I wish to make a few remarks: Since Annette was treated, significant progress has been made, and she would be treated differently today. This continuous progress is the cause of breast cancer mortality halving roughly every decade. Annette is part of a rapidly growing army of long-term survivors in good health. At a recent review, about 95 of 100 women in our practice are alive with a normal female appearance 10 years after diagnosis; breast cancer has long changed for most afflicted women from a disease that would leave then disfigured in the short-term and kill them within 5 years to a curable disease where cosmetic outcomes are excellent.
We have the deepest respect for Annette for her positive attitude and the sterling work that she does in nature conservation.”
