Day Six
Woke up relieved to find that I hadn’t received any nasty mosi bites (last night was the first time that my bed didn’t have a mosquito net and I was massively paranoid, despite the fact that I had practically bathed in Deet, so much so that no actual living thing would have wanted to come near me let alone the tiny lungs of a mosi!!) and still on a high from the day before.
Henk delivered our second Henkism over breakfast; “The traffic will be quite bad,” he said, “Just be a little aware of it.”
As we left Eldoret and headed towards Kakamega we realised that “traffic will be quite bad,” meant “traffic is on a par with the M1 at rush hour…and none of it will give a damn about you.” The roads weren’t great either. As we travelled through busy villages we created a chorus of “Pothole!”,“Speed bump!”, “Lorry!”, “car!” and at one point “PIG!” as one particularly amorous hog took a chance and tried to cross the road in front of us.
The speed bumps in particular did their best to slow us down, creating a number of accidents along the way which resulted in various cuts and bruises and a potential broken wrist as cyclists left, right and centre flipped over their handlebars. It seems laughable that a few lumps of concrete thought that they could defeat those brave women though and each and everyone dusted themselves down and got back on their bikes regardless.
I know you might be imagining speed bumps at home by this point and wondering how on earth one might miss such a great big thing, but the speed bumps in Kenya are narrow, come in threes and are often disguised by the amount of people milling around near them, meaning that if you are busy trying to swerve out of the path of one of the locals, there’s every chance you might not see the looming bump until it’s too late to do anything about it. The same goes for the potholes along the roads. I thought Britain was bad for dodgy tarmac, but it’s nothing compared to Kenya
The lunch stop was particularly memorable and not only because it came with a fully stocked fizzy pop shop….mmmm….sugar!!
The majority of the women in the group had taken on the challenge because of someone that they had lost to cancer, myself included. For some, like me, it had been years ago, but for some the pain was still very, very raw.
Ann and Henk announced that we would have a minutes silence to remember all those who couldn’t be with us anymore and for those that were still suffering. That minute really brought home just what we were out in Kenya
In that moment was also hope. Hope for a better future, where the money that we had raised throughout the challenge would make a difference to someone’s life and hope that one day there might be a cure.
As we set off again everybody seemed quiet and it was obvious to see just what a devastating affect cancer has on those who have suffered and those who are left behind. I made a pact to myself that for as long as I live I will continue to raise funds for charities that try to fight back – (yeah…sorry about that folks…that does indeed mean that I will be nagging you to come along to my fundraisers for years to come!!!).
The rest of our journey was very much the usual….pothole, speed bump, lone cow, HILL! A “Jambo,” here, a “Howa yoooou,” there, a few random shouts of “let me pick one of you to be my wife,” from the locals. We covered the 92km for the day pretty quickly…then again, 57 miles was nothing to us now, a mere pedal round the park!!!
At the finish line we were transported by bus to the Golf Hotel in Kakamega. As the sun went down we treated ourselves to hot showers and ‘Tuskers,’ (Kenyan beer) before dinner.
After we had eaten that night, Angela (The rep from Ovarian Cancer), was invited to give us a talk, again to kind of reinforce why we were out doing this crazy challenge, but also to inform us about the signs of Ovarian Cancer.
“Ovarian cancer currently kills one woman every two hours in the UK , and British women are less likely than women in Europe and the Western world to survive longer than one year from diagnosis. Early diagnosis of ovarian cancer is very important. If the disease is found in the early stages, up to 90% of women will survive for more than five years. Unfortunately, most women in the UK are not diagnosed with ovarian cancer until it has already spread, making successful treatment difficult and survival rates much lower,” (http://www.ovarian.org.uk/) which is why Angela goes out and gives talks on the subject and also why I asked her if I could print her story.
There are no particular tests for Ovarian Cancer in that they are not included in your cervical smear screening or in STD tests that you might (should) have regularly. When Angela first went to the doctors her stomach was massively bloated, so much so that she had to wear maternity trousers, she was so tired that she was sleeping on the office floor during the day and she couldn’t go to the toilet. In fact she took laxatives every day for five months just to try and go, but when she did it was sheer agony. The doctors told her it was a severe wheat allergy and to try to cut it out.
This went on for a year and Angela wasn’t convinced that what they were telling her was right and asked to be referred to a specialist, but was informed that she would have to be put on a waiting list and that it could take months and months to get an appointment. By this point she was totally fed up and finding it difficult to care for her six year old son and so she took matters into her own hands and asked to be referred privately. Of course, the doctors suddenly found an appointment had opened up at the end of that week!!!
When the specialist saw Angela, he asked her why she hadn’t been to him before. Scans showed a large tumour and she was immediately booked in for treatment. By this point Angela had Stage Four Ovarian Cancer, the most advanced form of the disease where ovarian cancer cells have started to spread into other organs of the body. Put shortly, Angela shouldn’t even be here.
She will now undergo various treatments for the rest of her life, keeping the cancer at bay. Doctors have told her that she has survived largely because of her strict exercise regime and amazingly positive mental attitude and it is amazing.
Up until this point I had no idea just what Angela had been through. I didn’t even know she had had cancer and we had ridden together numerous times throughout the challenge. All I knew was that she was extremely supportive, motivational, friendly and fun….oh and that she had a love for beautiful earrings which I often admired!!! I just couldn’t believe how positive she was and after what she had been, and continues to go through. Not only that, but instead of letting cancer defeat her, she had stuck two fingers up to it and taken on this massive challenge too. She will forever remain one of my role models in life. Whenever the shit hits the fan, or things get me down, I will turn my thoughts to her and know that if she can remain so positive then so can I.
I hope that by telling Angela’s story that someone reading this that might recognise those symptoms in either themselves or in a loved one, will do something about it. Fight the doctors, you have a right to be listened to and most importantly focus on your mental attitude, because in the end it will be that which saves you.
I don’t think anyone left that dining hall that night without a tear in their eye.
Tomorrow was the last cycle day, the end of our challenge, but I don’t think I speak for myself when I say (very cheesily…sorry!!) that this trip had been the start of new attitudes to life.
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