Emmanuella-Faith Amoako, Paediatric Oncologist at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital and Director of Clinical Affairs at Yemaachi Biotechnology, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Yesterday, a colleague sent me a message thanking me for teaching her and giving her the courage to do something she once feared. She spoke about performing her first intrathecal chemotherapy and how scared she had been because of something she had seen happen earlier in the quarter. What stayed with me most was not the procedure itself, but the sentence where she said, ‘you made all that fear go away.’
Reading that message made me pause.
In medicine, we often move quickly from one responsibility to the next. There is always another patient, another round, another task waiting. It is easy to forget that in the middle of these routines, we are shaping one another through the words we speak, the calm we bring into difficult moments, and the way we show up for our colleagues.
Today’s theme, ‘Give to Gain,’ feels deeply connected to that idea. Giving is often imagined as something large or visible, but many of the most meaningful things we give are quiet: time, reassurance, patience, knowledge, and sometimes simply the belief that someone else is capable.
But the message also made me reflect on something else, that none of us gives from an empty place. What we offer others is often the result of what has been given to us along the way.
I did not arrive here alone. Along my journey there were people who invested in me, who trusted me with responsibility before I fully trusted myself, who guided me through moments of uncertainty and growth. Their influence lives in the way I practice, the way I teach, and the way I support others.
So when I read that message, I did not only see gratitude directed toward me. I saw the continuation of a chain. A reminder that the generosity, patience, and guidance I once received are now flowing through me to someone else.
This is the deeper meaning of ‘give to gain.’
Giving multiplies.
When we give knowledge, confidence grows.
When we give encouragement, courage emerges.
When we give opportunity, someone else discovers their strength.
And sometimes, the gain is not something measurable. Sometimes the gain is simply the quiet realization that the work we do not only for our patients, but for each other matters in ways we do not always see immediately.
So to every woman out there today, continue to pay it forward. To all those who have held my hands; thank you!!!
In Cameroon we say: WOMAN HEH!!!!!”
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