Isabel Mestres, CEO of City Cancer Challenge (C/Can), shared a post on LinkedIn:
“When I travel, I usually post about the purpose of the trip, the meetings, the plans, the progress we hope to make. But less about the stories that stay with me.
Las week, in Kampala, I met a cancer survivor who now volunteers to help other patients navigate diagnosis and treatment. I meet people like her in many cities. They are rare, and extraordinary. And I often find myself wondering: why is this work still unpaid?
In Uganda, for many people cancer still means one thing: death. Fear, stigma, abandonment, financial burden. Sometimes the hardest thing to overcome is simply the absence of hope.
And that is where survivors step in.
They accompany patients, help with childcare, guide them through complicated systems. But above all, they bring something powerful: proof that survival is possible.
And yet their work remains mostly unpaid, despite reducing delays in care, preventing patients from dropping out of treatment, improving patient experience, and ultimately saving the system money.
Because sometimes the most powerful intervention in cancer care is simple: hope, delivered by someone who has lived it.”
Other articles featuring Isabel Mestres on OncoDaily.