Shame on everyone who stigmatizes breast cancer victims – Survivor

President of Pink for Africa, an NGO that supports breast cancer victims, Juliette Mills-Lutterodt, has spoken against people who are stereotypical of victims of the disease.

According to Juliette Mills-Lutterodt, it is unfortunate society is driven by stigmas which affect everyone, and breast cancer is very much one of them.

The advocate stressed that women suffering from breast cancer are most often blamed for their predicament with some receiving accusations such as, “you are a bad person that is why this thing is happening to you. That you stole somebody’s husband, that you had a baby with somebody’s husband. That you are an evil person. That the devil has come upon you.”

She added that husbands are not left out of the stigmatisation as she recounted an experience where a woman’s husband with whom she had four children, said she was a curse to him.

“Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you.”

Disappointed by the utterances made by the husband she said, “I’ve never heard of a woman walking away from a woman because she has prostate cancer. I’ve never heard a woman walking away because her husband is sick. But the minute a woman cuts her breast, all of a sudden, some men will say you are not complete, ‘this is not how I married you. When I met you, you were complete’.”

As a survivor, Mrs Mills-Lutterodt revealed that her biggest support during her cancer battle was her husband

“One of the biggest reasons why I’m here, besides God, my family support and my friends and my community, is the man who stood next to me – my husband.

“He’s seen me go through it all and sometimes when he looks at me today, I am so touched and so moved that he still sees a sexy, beautiful woman.”