Not just a lump: How patients and families struggle after the diagnosis

Kenya's silent epidemic of cancer continues to ravage communities, strain households financially and emotionally. [Courtesy]

When 39-year-old Halima Yussuf from Mandera first felt a persistent lump in her left breast, accompanied by fatigue and unexplained weight loss, she chalked it up to stress.

Like many Kenyan women balancing work, family, and endless responsibilities, Halima quietly relegated her health to the back burner. It was only when symptoms worsened that a visit to the doctor delivered devastating news, she had stage 3 breast cancer.