“I was stronger than cancer”; these were the first words of Mrs. Marwa Adel, who expressed her journey with breast cancer.

A strong 39-year-old lady defeated breast cancer in a battle that lasted for two years. “I was stronger than my disease.”

Marwa came to Qatar in 2006 after she got married at the age of 25. She was blessed with her three kids. In April 2014, they were moving houses, and she was involved in the process. One day, when she was taking a shower after an exhausting day, she performed a breast self-examination. This is when she felt a ball-like mass in her right breast. After discussing it with her husband, he recommended she get it checked at the health center.

In the health center, the physician assured her everything was fine and gave her an imaging appointment at Hamad General Hospital. With her concern, she went to a private hospital for the checkups. On the same day, she did lab tests and mammography, and she was instructed to come back in 2 days for the results. After two days, the physicians told her that the mammography showed “something,” and she needed to do a biopsy for the mass.

Before the biopsy, Marwa was not bothered by the mass at all. “It was not painful, absolutely no symptoms,” Marwa said. However, after the biopsy, she started to feel pain at the biopsy site. “The pain was unbearable … I had to wait with it for one week to follow up with the biopsy results.”

“Three days before the follow-up appointment, the doctor called me to come and talk with him. I knew this meant the results were out.” Marwa went to the doctor with her husband. She did not know what the results might have to say about her mass, but she was not anticipating what the doctor would tell her, nor did she want to hear it. “It is cancer,” the doctor uttered.

Her immediate reaction at that point was to ask about the nature of cancer: “What does this mean? Benign or malignant?” “Malignant,” the doctor said. She did not know how to react after that, and she did not control her rush of emotions. Her husband held her hands tightly to calm her in a way she could not forget. Her husband asked about the next step, to which the doctor replied that another biopsy was needed to determine the extent of the malignancy. It was done on the same day.

Marwa was booked to do the surgery the following week. In the days before the surgery, she slowly accepted the shocking news and came to terms with her diagnosis. “I kept saying alhamdulillah (Thank God) repeatedly, and I accepted God’s fate. I was spending more time with my kids playing with them and kissing them as if I would not be able to see them again after the surgery.”

In the surgery, they removed the mass: 3 cm around its margins and 14 axillary lymph nodes. Reconstructive breast surgery was also done, and she was discharged the following day. The doctors told her that she needed chemotherapy. Since chemotherapy costs are significant in private hospitals, they referred her to the National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) to continue her treatment. By that time, she fully accepted her diagnosis; “it’s like any disease, anyone can be susceptible, and it can come and go.”

In NCCCR, Marwa started her chemotherapy. She took six cycles, with two different types together. Before beginning chemotherapy, the doctor informed her that she might or might not lose her hair, and her response was, “it is okay; I do not care about my hair.” Right before her first session, she decided to cut her hair short; to this day, she keeps the hair with her. The first night after her first chemotherapy session, she played with her short hair and noticed it falling off. Then she decided to shave her whole head. She said, “my hair is going to grow back and even better than before. I am not sad about it.”

Marwa finished her last chemotherapy session in December later that year. A workup revealed a new tumor in the same place as the old one. She was referred to a surgeon at Hamad General Hospital. After reviewing her records, the surgeon told her that during his time, the whole breast needed to be removed, followed by an implant insertion. She proceeded with that. After her second surgery, the doctor told her that the other unaffected breast needed to be removed prophylactically due to the aggressive nature of her tumor. She did her third surgery and then scheduled a fourth plastic surgery on her breasts. After that, she started radiotherapy sessions.

For radiotherapy, she had 36 sessions in total. She used to have her session daily, except on weekends. After her 2^nd or 3^rd radiotherapy session, her implant site started to get inflamed, with lots of pus oozing out from the breast. She went to the ER, where they told her she probably had a hospital-acquired infection, and they quarantined her for ten days. During these ten days, an ambulance would take her from her quarantine to NCCCR  to receive her radiotherapy. After ten days of quarantine, she was moved to the medical city, where she continued receiving her therapy for 1.5 months.

Since her implant got infected, the doctor recommended changing it to a silicon-based implant. However, even after changing the implant, the new implant got infected. The 2^nd infection episode was more severe, and she stayed in the hospital for one month. The doctor informed her that her body was not accepting the implants, and they needed to be removed. She underwent another surgery to remove the silicon-based implants, but nothing else was placed. That was at the end of 2016, and she has been doing fine since then.

During hardships, having support from close people can be crucial, and, in some occasions, the patient can be the one offering support to people close to them. Luckily, Marwa had huge support from her parents, who supported them too. Before starting her chemotherapy sessions, she worked on getting her parents from her home country to visit Qatar. They knew nothing about Marwa’s diagnosis at that time. Right before starting chemotherapy, she informed her mother. She was shocked since no one in the family had breast cancer before, let alone having it at a relatively young age. Marwa was the one trying to comfort her mother.

In the same way, the mother came with Marwa to her first chemotherapy session to support her. Marwa’s mother was shocked by how strong Marwa was. The mother used to ask her, “where did you get this strength?”

Marwa’s husband was also very supportive of her. He supported her during her disease, and they came closer. “He showed lots of love, and I appreciate it.” Sometimes after her chemotherapy sessions, she used to be fatigued and in pain. She secretly would see her husband crying alone for her, even though he acted tough in front of her. She would crack jokes to make him feel better and show her strength. He told her, “you were the one supporting us, not us supporting you.” She says his new relationship with her makes it difficult for her now to do or say anything that would upset him.

After everything was over, she says that she turned a new page in her life. This experience has made a huge change in her life; she became a different person. She did not use to have a job, but now she works. She used to spend most of her time at home, and now she is more social and takes her kids out more often. She says her faith and trust in God’s decisions are huge; she became closer to God. “I have changed my lifestyle for the best. Nothing in life should make anyone feel devastated. Even if something sad happens, I turn it into something happy. I refuse to allow myself to feel sad.”

 

Feras’s story is not simply the story of one child. Feras’s story is one of family, resilience, and kindness in the face of childhood cancer. This is a story of how he, along with his mother, father, and brother, faced the diagnosis together and overcame what they believe is a test from God.

Feras is a gentle, shy 8-year-old. He’s in the 2nd grade, and his favorite subject is math. When he grows up, he wants to be an astronaut. He loves playing with his brother and is the best goalie on the team. His mom says he has always been a gentle soul, but you can see his excitement as he teases his older brother.

The story began when Firas had spiked fevers every few weeks that would then subside on their own. On Friday, February 26th, 2016 (his father remembers the day vividly), they took Feras to the pediatric emergency center because he had developed a stiff neck along with his fever. Blood was drawn, and Feras was kept for observation overnight.

From February to October 2016, Feras went into and out of the hospital. He suffered through the side effects of the chemotherapy and steroids and developed a central line infection that required four procedures to place and replace the port. His final chemotherapy doses needed him to sit still in bed for 36 hours straight.

While the doctors expected an infection, the blood results revealed otherwise. A doctor came in to explain that the blood results showed an alarming abnormality in the number of white blood cells; the body’s major line of defense against infection with Leukemia was among the most likely explanations. Feras was transferred to Hamad General Hospital. With Feras on his lap in the ambulance, Ashraf, Feras’s father, tried to make sense of his son’s diagnosis, hoping it was all a mistake.

The family made it to Hamad General Hospital, where they were taken to the hematology ward. Touria, Feras’s mother, immediately noticed the children with IV lines and those who had lost their hair, and the sight of it all overwhelmed her. Within a day, their world was turned upside down.

Feras and his family also remember the good parts of their journey. They remember a special doctor, Dr. Salwa, who explained their son’s condition most kindly and delicately. She sat beside Feras in his hospital room as she went through the course of treatment to come, which included months of chemotherapy, multiple lumbar punctures and scans, and surgeries to place a central line. She listened to their questions. She listened to Feras. Having received bits of information throughout the evening, she finally put the family at ease. “She was a person before she was a doctor, and it showed in her actions,” Ashraf explained.

They remember the speed at which they received a diagnosis and treatment for their son here in Qatar, for which they are grateful. Anywhere else, getting a hospital bed and starting treatment would have taken weeks, if not months.

They remember the social worker who helped them with the financial burden of the diagnosis. Ashraf recalls from his colleague soon after the diagnosis that the treatment would cost him thousands of riyals. The financial burden added colossal stress. However, this burden vanished once their social worker connected them with the Qatar Cancer Society. “Qatar Cancer Society relieved 75% of the stress we were going through,” Ashraf explained, and “we could truly focus on helping our son get better, rather than the logistics of providing his day-to-day treatments. We are so grateful for their help,” he continued.

And they remember the people who stood beside them–the colleagues, neighbors, and family who went out of their way to help care for Feras and his brother, Tamim. They helped cover shifts for Touria when she missed work, cooked for Tamim when no one was home, and took turns visiting the hospital. They made spending two very lonely Eid holidays a little better while Feras was scheduled for chemotherapy. It was only through visits with friends, who came with food and high spirits, that they could get through this.

Now, four years on, Feras remembers a few details. He remembers making a friend at the hospital, a young girl with same cancer. He also remembers the toys his brother would bring him, the pain of the central line, and spending a lot of time in a hospital bed. But even as he describes these painful memories, he is a cheerful young boy. When his mother tears up, he whispers to her: “Don’t let sadness destroy you, be patient.”

 

Mr. Joseph is a 52-year-old gentleman who worked as a finance manager in Qatar for 11 years ago. He lives with his wife, whom he considers excellent support, and their three daughters; he is Cancer free and enjoying life to the best of his abilities.

In October 2019, he experienced back pain that caused him to go to the hospital. An MRI scan was done, and doctors found a 6 cm mass on his left kidney. Unfortunately, the group was not investigated further. Instead, he was given some pain medication and discharged. One month after this incident, he developed stomach pains, which he initially wasn’t concerned about, attributing to usual hunger pangs or gas. He thought the discomfort might be food-related. However, when the pain persisted, he went to the hospital to check it out and was seen by an endoscopy specialist. This doctor also did an endoscopic ultrasound, identifying the same mass on his left kidney. He then referred Mr. Joseph to a urologist for further evaluation.

During his appointment at the hospital, Mr. Joseph discovered that his MRI report was missing from the computer system. For this reason, he had to do a CT scan during the 1st week of December. The images showed a large mass in the center of his left kidney. His urologist told him that this mass needed to be treated on an inpatient basis, so Mr. Joseph was referred to Hamad Hospital; his urologist assured him that he would transfer all his results and pictures to Mr. Joseph’s hospital team, but he was unable to get an appointment until the 25th of December, on Christmas Day. On this day, he was finally admitted to the hospital where his new doctors were. However, they had access to his previous scans and record. They told him they would have to repeat all previous investigations to get better details about his condition and better understand the current state of his tumor.

The doctors did a new CT scan with contrast and found the mass on his left kidney, which had become half the size of the kidney, now measuring 7.5 cm by 8 cm. It was solid, not liquid,  growing, and its location in the center of the kidney–near blood vessels and other connections–it would not be possible to remove only part of the kidney; the doctors would have to remove the whole kidney.

Before I made the operation in Qatar, I asked my relative in Lebanon (The husband of my Wife’s Sister ) to take the report and CT scan to a specialist to check the situation and to see what options we could do in such a case, the result was the same as per the Hamad Hospital analysis. My wife’s sister and her Family were of good support even from far with their help that things would be okay, and I must not worry. By the way, I am Canadian of Lebanese origin, and both Places can fit me for the operation, but in both places, I will be away from my Family, and it will be hard to stay long after the recovery.

And hence all the opinions were the same; we put the matter in God’s hands and decided to do it in Qatar.

The fear was very little since we were not aware of the type, and of course, about my Family and what things could happen to their lives if anything terrible may happen to me, but of course, we let the matter and the results, and we believed let God will be there, and we will accept God’s mercy.

In Qatar, the day before the surgery was the first time he was told, by his surgeon, that the tumor was a cancerous mass. His surgeon answered his questions, explained the procedure, and on the 19th of January 2020, he underwent a radical nephrectomy. The surgery lasted 3.5 to 4 hours, about 45 minutes longer than usual, because of complications regarding fluid collections that developed around the tumor. It also took him 2 to 3 hours to wake up and recover from the anesthesia; this awakening period was more extended than usual, likely a result of breathing difficulties, he has due to a medical condition known as sleep apnea; he was in the recovery room till 5:30 pm, and then stayed in the hospital for five days because of further pains in his stomach (likely a result of a gas that had built up post-operatively). After his discharge, he continued living and tried not to think about the results. There was nothing to do but wait.

On the 3rd of February, around two weeks after the procedure, he had an appointment to receive his results. He was told that the tumor, fortunately localized and hadn’t spread to any other part of his body, was removed successfully. Everything was fine. He said that while he would have to undergo some repeated screenings every six months in case the tumor recurred, he was cancer-free.

Mr. Joseph has reflected carefully on his experiences. he believes that people understand and cope with Cancer differently: some don’t bother with it, some have courage and tackle it, and some worry and collapse. For him, he didn’t find the experience frightening or scary. He trusted God and had a robust support system with his wife and friends. His daughters, though they knew less about what was happening, supported him, comforted him, and spoke with him. His uncle and brothers overseas also endorsed him. However, he didn’t tell his parents because they were old and overseas. He didn’t want to worry them. he believes this is something you can’t do alone, and the people who can help you and give you emotional support during this time are those who know you, not random in the street.

By the way, the support I got from my friends and my close Family (Wife and Daughter) was good and made me more relaxed and confident about God’s well, and I will be good.

Speaking about how he felt when he learned the cancer diagnosis, he said, “It was going on, and it will continue going on as if nothing had happened.” the important thing is to take action, but beyond the medical interventions, he didn’t change his life because of the Cancer. he was still working from 7 am to 3 pm, exercising, meeting friends, and going to dinners. Everything happened very quickly, he said, and he didn’t have a chance to get scared about his situation.

Mr. Joseph however, did experience some frustration as a patient. He was particularly frustrated that his diagnosis was missed during his first doctor’s visit; that no further evaluation or necessary analysis was done. He was glad that everything was okay in the end, that the mass was caught and removed, but initially, it spread. Suppose he hadn’t had the good fortune to go to the hospital again one month after for his stomach pains. In that case, his situation might not have ended so positively. he has been to many different countries and believes that patients are treated differently in some societies compared to others; he points out that medical diagnoses, treatments, and processes are explained differently to patients in different countries and his personal experience with medical professionals was sometimes too indirect.

He wasn’t told he had Cancer until the day before his operation, and from the beginning, he didn’t know about his prognosis: if it was good or bad. He believed that his condition wasn’t explained to him adequately. For example, why did the entire kidney have to be removed instead of only the cancerous part? He felt he had to make decisions without all the information and that the doctor’s actions might have been different if he had known more from the beginning. He felt that they were taking control of the situation away from him.

Mr. Joseph was grateful for the support from the ancillary healthcare staff in the hospital: an assistant professor, a member of his healthcare team who listened to his concerns, addressed them, and gave him advice, and the staff, who arranged his appointments.

After the renal cell cancer was removed, Mr. Joseph decided he would not rush his recovery; he would relax back into work and his duties and take his time and be cautious. He is listening to music and enjoying the nightlife. To anyone undergoing a similar experience, he advises, “Have courage, and take action.” immediate intervention, and time, are essential.

 

Roger Wickam is a 50 years old musician. Although originally from the UK, his home for him is currently Madrid, Spain. He moved to Doha 5 years ago with his loving wife and two children. An artist, Roger, plays the saxophone and flute and makes records. As for his life in Doha, he describes it as “lovely!”. “As a family, we’re very happy here,” he says. “We work hard as anyone else, but we enjoy going on our holidays as well.” For most of his life, his health had been “very normal.” He would exercise by swimming or running, and he never smoked. A gradual and modest increase in weight was the only health-related concern he had previously faced.

He enthusiastically agrees when asked to share his story and message for those battling cancer. “If it is to help other patients, that’s a lovely idea; I’m all for it!”. He believes that having someone to talk to and relate to is very important. “I have shared with Qatar Cancer Society that if you ever need me for anything, such as speaking to patients with the same condition I had, I would be more than happy to do so. I think it’s really important.” When he was diagnosed, he says, he knew someone who “had the same thing.” As soon as he spoke to them, it made a huge difference in his life. “It massively made Everything better. I went in for the operation and chemotherapy knowing I may have a chance” “I’m lucky,” he says, and “I want to give something back to the system and to the people who are bravely facing their struggles at present.”

Towards 2015, he went to his GP complaining of a “regular sore throat and nothing else.” The right side of his neck was also “swollen up a little bit.” The physician prescribed him the usual antibiotics and asked him to return in a week if the swelling persisted. Fast forward to a week later, and Roger was back in the GP’s office. His sore throat resolved in no time. However, his neck remained swollen. The doctor, who Roger describes as “fantastic,” looked worried as it was “unusual for the swelling not to have gone away.” He consulted his colleagues and told Roger, “don’t be scared, but if I put you down as a suspected case of cancer, the ultrasound department will see you within 2-4 days.”

A week later, Roger was in Hamad General Hospital getting a series of medical tests. That, he says, was the “start of the proper diagnosis.” He had cells extracted with a needle from his neck swelling and underwent an ocean of body scans and blood tests. Looking back, he’s glad the first doctor he saw “flagged it up and got him into the system early.” After having been through the process of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, he recognizes how vital early detection is. He describes this process of waiting for the diagnosis as the “hardest bit” of his journey. “Not knowing was terrifying. Once I knew, I could deal with it. When you don’t know if you have a cyst, an abscess, or cancer, you’re constantly worried. Of course, the doctors can’t tell you what it is or isn’t. No one used the word cancer with me directly, yet those six weeks were horrid. It takes a long time to confirm, or at least it feels like it – with weeks spent waiting for tests, waiting for test results, and getting follow-up tests. “He had a throat biopsy of the tumor in his tonsils under general anesthesia. He had to wait for those results, after which he had PET scans. “When you haven’t had cancer, you assume the word means death. The thought of wondering whether this may or may not be cancer was terrifying.”

The day he finally received his diagnosis was inexplicably tricky. However, “but now I knew what it was,” he says. “It took me a couple of days to get my head around it. I had all the support of speaking to people who’ve had the same illness. I spoke to doctors, and they told me about other people who had survived and those who had the same operation that I was scheduled for and were now happily getting on with their lives. I was concentrating on the operation and what was going to happen next. This stopped me from worrying about it all the time. It saved me.” He describes a shift in his attitude from shock and a sickening feeling after being told he has cancer to believing that his illness was treatable. “I realized that this is survivable. This isn’t an instant death. I started to see it for what it is, rather than what I thought beforehand.”

He immediately shared the news with his wife, and together, they shared some details with their children as they were “quite grown-up.” “It’s too big of a thing not to tell them. As a parent, you need to be as honest with your kids as possible.” Over the following weeks, he shared the news with the rest of his family and the people around him. “The more I talked about it, the less frightened I became. Eventually, I began to make it a point to share my story with people as it made me feel better.” He stresses the importance of support from friends and family during challenging times. “Bottling it all up and going into a hole is a bad idea. We all need to talk.”

An optimist, Roger tried to find something positive even during difficult times. “I had wonderful conversations with friends and family that I hadn’t spoken to in a long time. Whatever I may have endured health-wise, at least I experienced something great in my relationships.” He was keen on reconnecting with people he cared about, “If something bad happened, I wanted to have told everybody that I loved them. I didn’t want to hold back. I realized that relationships are what give meaning to my life. I stopped caring about silly things in life and focused on being with my loved ones” He remarks that these conversations helped him a lot psychologically, far more than he realized at the time. He never felt angry or frustrated with his diagnosis, as he told himself that “Nobody deserves to have cancer. Life is a mixed bag that comes with many small and big problems. You can’t be angry at the problem and hope it goes away; you need to focus on how you will deal with it.”

 Two months following his diagnosis, he underwent surgery in February 2016. He says that “going in lying on a trolley was frightening on the operation.” He remembers waking up in the ICU, surrounded by machines, with tubes coming out of every part of his body. “It was intimidating. But overall, it was quite quick. That’s the good thing about the Qatar system. There are loads of machines, and Everything is modern.”

In addition to surgery, Roger also received chemotherapy and radiation therapy cycles. His chemotherapy was “rough.” During this period, there were times when he was unable to eat or drink and was required to stay in the hospital for 3weeks. He describes these as some of his “lowest days.” “Every day felt like a week. My head and body hurt, and I could not sleep or enjoy music. I felt weak.” He kept himself going by thinking, “Okay. I have to deal with this. I knew it was a fight; it wouldn’t eat me up.” He says that “you learn about yourself, your personality when you think you might die throughout these vulnerable times.” Despite his positive outlook and determination, he recalls moments when “Everything disappears around you. You feel lonely as you start to think that people around you will continue to live on while your story ends.” He recounted one particular day during his hospital admission when he broke down after seeing his wife. Once again, having meaningful conversations with people helped him overcome such feelings. According to him, it was not what people told him but rather the sense of love and togetherness these conversations brought, which helped lift his spirits. Although he had several difficult moments, he was grateful that he received treatment and responded. And he was “grateful for being alive.”

 He doesn’t consider himself to be braver than the next person. “People say I’m brave. But this is a kind of braveness that’s forced upon you. It’s not like I’m choosing to run into a burning building to save somebody. I’ve woken up in the burning building, and I need to get out. It’s a different kind of courage.” He describes his journey as a “team effort” “I didn’t do it on my own. I needed my wife, kids, nurses, doctors, the staff at radiotherapy, the secretaries, the clerical staff- everyone. You remember all these people. Simple gestures such as people greeting you or asking you how you are matter.” He recounts how he met other people with cancer at various sites in the waiting room for his radiotherapy sessions- the blood, bones, breast, etc. There were little kids, old ladies, and young men. Some people were in wheelchairs, while others walked in holding the hands of a loved one. “It can get anyone,” he recalls thinking at the time. He describes feeling a sense of solidarity with these people, built through frequent short yet meaningful interactions. “You start to make friends and share each other’s strengths. After all, it’s a mental game as much as it is a physical one.”

Even after he received his first “all clear of cancer,” it took him months to get the fear of recurrence out of his thoughts and allow himself to slip back into his routine.

Initially, every minor sore throat would lead to him worrying and spending hours checking his neck. He gradually overcame this instinct by reminding himself that he was alright and focusing on the present.

Today, he has completed two-and-a-half years in remission and created two musical records in this period. His goal is to complete five records in total by the time he completes “5 years of recovery”.

 He wishes for these to be the best five years of his life. Roger says he is learning to relax and live again with time. With each passing day, he worries less. As his life slowly returns to the way it was before, he says, it’s easy to get obsessed with the silly day-to-day things that do not truly matter. However, he doesn’t wish to forget his experience of being close to death completely. “It reminded me of how lucky I am, and I do not want ever to forget that.” Roger’s experience has fundamentally changed a lot of things about him. “In many ways, I’m back to being me. But in several tiny ways, I’m a different person. I’m very aware of my life now- my wife, my children. I am more about the ‘now’ and living in and for the present.”

 His main words of advice to someone recently diagnosed with cancer? Get all the support that you need and deserve. He urges people to utilize  Qatar Cancer Society’s many resources. “Do not tell yourself that it isn’t a big deal. Don’t be embarrassed to talk to your friends and family. We all need help. We all need each other’s support. It will be hard, but you can do this. Do not panic. There are many people out there, and you’re one of them. Focus your thoughts on your treatment, and try not to worry about anything else. You will be surprised by how much you can survive. Eat well, live well.”