Having breast cancer does not mean a death sentence when you go to the doctor early to detect it, much less in Cuba where health services are completely free and every day results of research works for new drugs and vaccines are expanded and actions in this regard are put into practice in communities.
These are the words of Yusimí Galán, who was operated on three years ago, and who six months ago gave birth to a beautiful baby. She suggests optimism as the best weapon against cancer: “After surgery, the psychological aspect is also important, so it is best to wear wings of hope and fly up, always towards life…” said the young woman.
This is also the view of women in the Havana municipality of Guanabacoa that have undergone mastectomy, grouped in the project Alas for la Vida (Wings for Life), which today brings together some 40 of them on the last Saturday of every two months, in meetings where they receive educational lectures, participate in cultural activities, get orientation from a psychologist and are accompanied by a mastologist.
In this territory, located in eastern Havana, there is a coordinator for the group, and Dr. Marina Pérez, a mastologist of the town’s Gynecology and Obstetrics Hospital, receives these patients in her consultation office; almost always they meet at the History Museum, since the Municipal Culture Department supports all of their activities. However, the Municipal Department of Health and the National Institute of Sports and Recreation (INDER) also deserve recognition for their support to this idea.
By way of the Wings for Life project several women that have been operated on have received donations of prostheses from a nongovernmental association of Holland, but what participants value most is that at each meeting they socialize their questions, they’re filled with zest for life (particularly those who think their lives are coming to an end), while many of them have become painters or artisans, joined sport activities or become health promoters.
The next meeting will take place on February 28, an initiative being promoted to encourage patients to join the celebration of the joy of living, organized by a project that since its creation has returned hope to many and has contributed to prevent the disease, eliminate stress suffered by those who have had to undergo surgery, and encouraged women to systematically see physicians, so their cancer can be cured.
Translated by Telma Rodríguez
