Woman pleads for help over mysterious breast condition

Kenya: Her breasts rest on her lap every time she sits down. Unlike normal breasts, hers cannot fit in a bra because of their enormous size.

Ms Jackline Awino, 24, has had to endure this after a mysterious illness led to rapid enlargement of her breasts.

The ailment has left a big psychological wound as people in her village in Ugunja have taken to all sorts of rumours. It took just seven months to turn her life into one long nightmare.

It all started in January when the mother of two felt her breasts itching. She shared her situation with her mother who asked her whether she was pregnant and said she had no idea.

With time, her situation worsened and her breasts became painful and started enlarging uncontrollably.

That is when her worries began since she did not know what was wrong with her and no one in her family had experienced such. Soon, her husband evicted her from their home.

“He told me my sickness was emanating from where I was born. He then ordered me to go to my mother to treat me,” she says, tears streaming down her eyes.

Medical personnel in the first hospitals she attended gave her painkillers. As the pain persisted, she visited Yala Sub-district Hospital, where it was discovered that a foetus had died in her womb. She did not even know that she was pregnant.

Abnormal growth

Doctors at the hospital prescribed some drugs and discharged her, saying water needed to be drained from her breasts. She later sought help at Siaya District Hospital.

The hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Jackton Omoto said the woman was not aware that she was pregnant for eight months. However, doctors induced her to bring the dead foetus out.

“We discharged her on July 30 and gave her medicine to take so that milk may dry up. The presence of milk complicates the issue further. Therefore she will come after two weeks for us to run more tests,” says Dr Omoto.

He says oestrogen leads to an abnormal growth of the breast but they cannot link it with her condition yet until they conduct further tests.

Awino is desperate for assistance to bring her life back to normal.

“All I am asking for is help. If there is any health expert willing to help save my life, I will forever be grateful. I also need financial assistance,” she says dejectedly.

Her mother Josephine Auma is distressed by the situation and does not know which further action can be taken to help her daughter.

Her cousin Jacob Gwadi pleaded with the hospital not charge her for treatment. “She was admitted to the maternity wing where treatment should be free but we have been paying for tests and purchasing drugs for her. Concerning her breasts, no one is communicating on the way forward,” a distraught Gwadi says.