Sickness does not mean death ... an initiative by healthy cancer patients in Jordan

Humam Al-Asas - Oman

“Cancer is not related to death, no matter its severity,” the Foundation of the Spirit of Will Initiative, Smile Al-Jadou (28 years old), described cancer patients. The initiative was launched in November 2017, targeting those who had cancer to support them psychologically and to educate the community that exaggerated attention and pity looks Not a way to help them.

The world celebrates World Cancer Day every year on February 4, with the aim of showing support to cancer patients, and autism under the banner of cancer control treatment and prevention in a positive and inspiring way.

The twentieth of Al-Jazeera Net emphasized that the initiative does not belong to any party, as it rejects the idea of ​​marketing patients as goods that are exploited for the interests of many parties and people, and the patient is not dependent, has his future and ambition, and from here the idea of ​​changing the stereotype about cancer and its association with death emerged, and the initiative moved between the provinces Sometimes, you address the community and the sick again, to tell them "Don't be shy about your illness", and effectively remember the souls of the sick "for your souls."

Al-Jadou'a fought cancer for fifteen years, during which it diversified the activities of the initiative through vivid examples, as patients talked about their experiences, and presented short plays to indicate the proper ways to deal with them, which made them inspirational to others who admitted that they would not face the disease had it not been for their initiative.

She believed that "illness is in the mind, not the body." Patients have a strength that enables them to seize opportunities, and has contacted various governmental and private institutions, and has toured universities and schools to cultivate its idea.

Challenges
She suffered from the disease due to cancer, as she was fired after her absence to undergo surgery, and she went through three stages "school, university, and work" and each of them left a trace in her. She fought her disease as a twelve-year-old to defeat him at the age of twenty-two years.

Al-Jadoua says that negative and compassionate treatment is what kills the patient and limits his determination and his determination to survive. Society must save patients through their understanding of how to deal with them.

In exclusive statements to Al Jazeera Net, the Jordanian Minister of Health, Saad Jaber, drew attention to the Ministry's closure of some factories as a result of the issuance of carcinogenic gases, and the removal of other areas from residential areas, in addition to awareness campaigns, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, to reduce the risk of emission of toxic gases that cause cancer.

The minister emphasized that there is a noticeable decrease in the rates of smokers, especially with the government's measures for the current year accompanying through severe campaigns on unlicensed centers that provide "shisha" and educational lessons for children in schools about the dangers of smoking, in addition to raising prices and taxes on them and preventing smuggling.

The minister stressed Jordan's position as one of the few countries that believes in cancer patients by the state bearing the full costs of their treatment, and the Kingdom relies on King Abdullah Hospital in the north, the King Hussein Cancer Center centered in the middle, and another the government intends to establish in its south.

The government does not stop following up on the policy of the World Health Organization by studying the factors that cause cancer and reducing them, as the Food and Drug General Authority is searching international bulletins to find carcinogenic foods and prevent their entry into Jordan, which led the minister to believe that the Kingdom is developing at the regional level in this regard.

Jaber relied on awareness campaigns related to breast cancer for women, colon for men, treatment of palliative care teams as part of psychotherapy and follow-up of patients cases in conjunction with chemotherapy.

Smoking and hookah are the biggest cause of the disease
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, CEO of the Hussein Cancer Center Assem Mansour stressed the medical development in treating patients, as 7 out of 10 patients live for five years after diagnosis, and 5 out of 10 live for 10 years after that, and "these are excellent numbers."

He said that the rates of patients have not changed significantly, as there are 87 new infections per 100,000 people in Jordan, while 5999 cases were diagnosed between Jordanians, and 2002 among non-Jordanians, including travelers for medical tourism and refugees, and there is an unremarkable increase between each year and earlier, However, it is commensurate with the increase in population, which causes the President to expect a significant increase over the next ten years.

Mansour attributed his expectation for two reasons. The first is an increase in the average ages, which creates a fertile environment for cancer that affects older ages. There is a direct proportion between age and injury, and the second is the high risk factors leading to the disease, foremost among which is smoking, as 60% of Jordanians smoke, and 80% of causes The incidence of lung cancer, which is the most important among the types of cancer, is due to smoking, while one in every 6 deaths of patients is due to lung cancer.

And he mentioned the inclusion of smoking and the warnings related to it for shisha "which are more dangerous than cigarettes, as studies indicate that each hookah head is equal to 60 cigarettes, in addition to that its smokers are forced to sit in closed places, which makes them vulnerable to inhaling other" shisha "smells, although Tobacco has many disadvantages but is not known ingredients, unlike the anonymous "hookah honey".

Electronic cigarette
Mansour compared the electronic and regular cigarettes, based on two American and British schools, as the first sees that their danger is the same, and most of the young electronic smokers find it a door for regular cigarettes, while the other school adopts the opinion that the electronic is less harmful and can be used instead of regular or For the gradual treatment of smoking, indicating his inclination for the first opinion.

And it was auspicious for the disease to recover after the death rate improved due to it by about 30% in two decades, stressing that the development during the last 5 years exceeds what science achieved during the previous decades, "I do not say that it is a simple disease, but it can be dealt with and treated."

Psychological support as a treatment
The doctor moved on to talk about the complications of cancer, which needs multidisciplinary doctors and psychotherapists, spiritual and nurses and social researchers, so that they can treat every patient, not disease, as it is those around him who are subjected to stress and psychological fatigue.

He pointed to the necessity of psychological treatment as an important part, as most patients need it, which is what the center worked on by evaluating them within a psychological and social program and sending those who need them to a psychotherapist.

Mansour said that the patient cannot accept treatment amid psychological fatigue, and his neglect of the aspects of food, sports and life, as a result of depression and dissatisfaction, which causes the body to not tolerate treatment, in addition to the fact that the immune system needs to be strengthened so that it can fight exotic cells, and does not work unless The psychological state was good.

He added that society needs to improve its view of patients without being sentenced to death, as old methods no longer help to communicate messages, and there is an existing science in itself to fight myths about cancer, and give positive examples of patients who have lived, studied or married.

The center has received about 6000 new cancer cases, including 4,600 Jordanians and 1,400 non-Jordanians. Mansour commented on this the necessity of finding branches in the north and south by managing the main branch and helping in making decisions about patients.