Akhtar Zaman, 50, a housewife, was diagnosed with recurrent ovarian cancer in October 2003.
Oncologists say the average duration of survival after recurrence of ovarian cancer is about 12-18 months. Records also show that less than one in 10 patients survive beyond five years following chemotherapy treatment.
But Akhtar Zaman has proved all predictions wrong, much to the wonder of the doctors who have been treating her for more than a decade.
A resident of the capital’s Pallabi area and the mother of two children, Akhtar leads a normal life and does her regular household chores with the same efficiency she used to have before she fell ill.
Yesterday, she came to the Wings convention centre in the captial’s Dhanmondi to attend a seminar on the occasion of the World Ovarian Cancer Day, organised jointly by www.cancerbd.com and the Oncology Club.
Her husband Syed Tarequzzman, who has been fighting alongside his wife for all these years, described what they had been going through.
Soon after she was diagnosed with the disease in 2003, he took her to Bangkok. Over the next few years, she took four cycles of chemotherapy in a hospital in the Thai capital and got well.
However, as is usual with Recurrent Ovarian Cancer, after a couple of years, the disease made a comeback. This time though, her husband decided to stay in Bangladesh and continue her treatment.
“Back in 2003, things were not like what they are now. Today we have modern hospitals equipped with all kinds of state-of-the art facilities to fight against cancer in the country,” Tareq said.
In these 11 years, Akhtar has taken a staggering number 34 chemotherapies, he said.
“A few months ago, doctors said she had got chemotherapy resistant, meaning that the treatment was not working anymore to keep the disease from recurring. She started losing weight fast. Then I consulted an herbal specialist. By the grace of the Almighty, she has been recovering well since,” he said.
Dr Mostafa Aziz Sumon, an oncologist from a private hospital in the city who has been treating Akhtar for a few years now, said she had proved everybody wrong.
“Her bravery in combatting a disease like cancer has inspired a number of other patients. To the wonder of physicians, she is having a surprisingly good health although it has been 11 years since she was diagnosed with cancer,” said Dr Sumon, also a member of the Oncology Club.
Rafe Sadnan Adel, organiser of the website cancerbd.com, told the Dhaka Tribune that: “After fighting with ovarian cancer for more than two years, my mother died a couple of months ago. I do not want any mother to die from the disease again. That is why I have initiated the website to inform people about the symptoms and treatments of cancer.”
He also said this is the second time the World Ovarian Cancer Day was being observed in Bangladesh.
