A HEALTH worker from Emersons Green has launched her own cancer awareness campaign.
Rhakima Kahn is trying to get more women from black, Asian and other non-white ethnic groups to be more aware of symptoms of breast cancer, the importance of getting the right help and overcoming “cultural reluctance” to discuss women’s health.
Rhakima, known as Kimi, is a senior healthcare support worker for University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust.
When she was 34 she found a lump near her breastbone and knew to go to her GP straight away.
After pushing for an appointment at North Bristol NHS Trust’s Bristol Breast Care Centre, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The mother-of-two, now aged 38, said: “Working in a hospital I have learnt to read the room so I knew the consultant thought it was cancer when she ordered the biopsy. Then when I was asked to come in for my results, I was certain they would tell me I had cancer, so I had already prepared for it.
“When they told me, you have breast cancer, I actually started laughing.”
She was diagnosed with breast cancer on Valentine’s Day, 2022.
Kimi was told she would need a lumpectomy but insisted on a mastectomy where the whole breast is removed.
Further tests were carried out and more tumours were found in her breast tissue, in locations which would not have shown up on a breast check.
Following her operation Kimi had six rounds of chemotherapy and five rounds of radiotherapy to eradicate the cancer.
She said: “Being a black woman, we don’t have the same access to education about our bodies.
“We’re brought up not to speak about it – not just ill health, but anything to do with our bodies.
“Most Black girls learn about periods and sex outside the home, at school or from friends, and then they don’t speak to their families about it.
“It puts us at a huge disadvantage, because not only are we less likely to check our breasts when we get older, or recognise changes in our bodies we need to get checked out, we also are more likely to wait longer to speak to a doctor about our symptoms.”
North Bristol clinical lead for Breast Services Michelle Mullan said:
“Thanks to Kimi for highlighting this important issue for black women and those from ethnically minoritised global majority backgrounds, because we know that there can be some cultural reluctance to discuss health matters that can lead to women not coming forward.
“We hope her campaigning will encourage all women to come forward if they have any new breast symptoms, and we would also encourage women to attend their routine with their breast screening mammograms when invited by the NHS Breast Screening Programme from the age of 50 to 70.”