I deferred picking my results and ended with Stage 3 cancer

Michael Juma Oloo, 44, kept dodging doctors’ appointments and pushed his body hard until the truth about cancer finally hit him. After rigorous treatment, he is now counting the days to a test that will declare him cancer-free

I started having stomach upsets and a severe heartburn in 2010. The hospitals I checked into treated me for various ailments and gave me medication to ease the pain. I also remember being treated for back pain which I associated to having fallen from a roof while at work.

But when the pain didn’t go away, I visited a doctor who referred me to Nairobi Hospital for an endoscopy and colonoscopy. I was told to wait for two weeks for the  results but I didn’t wait. Instead, I went for a job-related trip and forgot about the test. I went back to my doctor in 2014 when I couldn’t take the pain anymore. By then, I had also started noticing large blood stains in my pants and wondered where the blood came from. I shared this with my wife who pushed me to go back to my doctor.