I always find myself checking for lumps, swelling, colour changes around my nipples and any other symptom that might result in me having cancer. Don’t get it twisted; I am not obsessed, just cautious.

Not so long ago I got a call from FNB (First National Bank)asking me if I want to join their Breast Cancer insurance scheme. You can just imagine my reaction! I was like “WHAT??? WHY ME??? Are you trying to tell me that I am going to get cancer?’’ Shame man, the lady on the other end just went dead silent, lol. During the silence I realised that maybe, just maybe I might have over-reacted. Has this disease really taken over that much? Imagine getting a call asking if you’d like to get an HIV/Aids insurance, who thinks of such?

A few years ago I lost my aunt (my dads’ only sister) to breast cancer and only then did I find out that both my dad’s parents also died from cancer. My dad’s ‘aunt is currently sick now because she also has breast cancer and that is why I am so cautious, my family is riddled with this disease and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Seeing a loved one dying and getting worse as the days go by is not easy. Chemotherapy, radiation, traditional medication, you name them all but nothing works, or let me say has worked for any of my family members.

I remember this one day I had gone to visit my aunt and found her face down in the toilet bowl emptying her stomach out because of her chemo session that day. How can something that is supposed to help you pull you closer to your grave?

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Ladies and gentlemen please check yourselves regularly, the sooner you find out the better for you and your family.

Breast cancer month, a month that is just another month for many people but for others it is a month that they get to celebrate the ones they have lost to the disease, they get to raise awareness for those who are not fully aware about the disease that has come to kill more people than HIV/Aids.