On 27 July 1999, Rosa Meneses, founding president of the Philippine Breast Cancer Network (PBCN), addressed the plenary session of the World Conference on Breast Cancer (Ottawa, Canada on 26-31 July 1999) Plenary Address of Rosa Meneses During the World Conference on Breast Cancer A most beautiful morning to all the gallant women and men in the global movement for the eradication of breast cancer. When Laurene Clark asked me to talk in this opening plenary, I felt challenged. To speak before such a huge audience, baring my soul, if not my chest. ....that is tough. Yes, living with breast cancer is really tough. Tougher still when you have to recount the terrible pain of a not so distant past. It's like scratching a wound and exposing the raw part of it. I go through this motion many times when I talk - so you can imagine how often I bear the pain. Recalling the pain serves a purpose - to remind myself that dealing with it is living with breast cancer. As I do so today, I am reminded of the many other gallant women doing the same. My story is the same as every woman with breast cancer. In February 1997, after my two-year old daughter had stopped breast feeding, I went to a doctor because of a nagging lump in my left breast. I went alone, thinking it was some routine check up. Nothing prepared me for the shock that followed. The doctor was not a doctor of my choice. He was referred by my health maintenance plan. After doing a mammogram, he told me I had cancer as shown in the result and needed to be operated at once. He couldn't wait for any of my family to even support me for that heartless declaration. I told him I couldn't have cancer - nobody in my family had cancer. I didn't know how I got home after that. When I reached home, my 21-year old daughter was eager to learn of the result. Suddenly, the tears I had been holding back, flowed like Niagara Falls. No words came out but it was enough for my daughter to know that death was casting its shadow on us. My husband had to be brave for both of us. He promised to take me to his childhood friend, a cancer surgeon. I must have been stricken with numbness for I just left everything up to them. This doctor had me immediately admitted and told my husband, I would undergo a frozen section biopsy. My husband, also being ignorant, left everything up to his friend. Again, nothing prepared me for what I found out later on. They took me from the room when it was still early morning. I regained consciousness, early evening. When I opened my eyes, I saw my family and some friends around, grieving over me. I thought I had died. My body felt torn apart, like some blasted wall. I instinctively reached out for my heart where the pain hurt most. Realizing what had happened, I could only wish I was back in y mother's womb. The days that followed were like preparing for a final exam. My husband and I devoured every information on breast cancer we could get hold of and went to anybody concerned with this disease. It was to get ready for the next confrontation with chemotherapy. I was given a very bad prognosis of advanced breast cancer with 16 out of 23 lymph nodes found malignant - of surviving not more two years without aggressive medical treatment or at most, a five year statistical life span if I did. Five months after, I had not gone for any further assault on my body. This time, my feeling was not for anyone else to decide for me. I had to be armed before facing another battle. By fate, that was the time a friend informed me of the World Conference on Breast Cancer. I had to gather all my inner strength to travel - all by myself, for my very first time out of my country, at great distance and on an extended airfare payment, just to attend the Kingston Conference in July of 1997. It turned out that I was the only breast cancer delegate in attendance from my country. It was as if I was the only Filipino with breast cancer. I clearly remember that time when I was among the audience, simply overwhelmed as I listened to the late, great Bella Abzug, to Devra Davis, Annie Sasco, and Sandra Steingraber...to name a few. It seems not to long ago. By some unexplainable force, I was drawn to attend a concurrent session of Joan Reiss. As I listened to her, I found myself, not anymore looking for a therapy to cure my disease. I was already contemplating on what needed to be done to prevent my three daughters from getting breast cancer. Then on my way back home, I chanced on Akiko Domoto at the airport and told her of my intentions to hold a similar conference in my country, no matter the burden for a sick woman like me. At hindsight, there seemed to be an unseen hand, leading me to people who would later mean much to what I would be undertaking. The Kingston Conference was the reason why my husband and I have decided to commit our lives to the movement for the global eradication of breast cancer - to live or even die so that others may live. The conference galvanized me and to this very day, I have not submitted myself to any form of chemotherapy or radiation. How did I manage to stretch the time, struggling to live to attend this conference once again and be with all of you....not anymore the "lost" delegate from the Philippines. On August 28, 1997, along with my husband and a few close friends, we set up the Philippine Breast Cancer Network, patterned after the Canadian Breast Cancer Network. Against many odds, we were able to hold the first ever Philippine Conference on Breast Cancer in October last year. We were blessed with the presence of Andrea Martin of The Breast Cancer Fund; Kimiko Goldberg of the Japan Breast Cancer Network and Cindy Termorshuizen, who represented Akiko Domoto of the Japanese Diet. Devra Davis sent us invaluable materials which have since become the core of our information and awareness campaigns. Inspite of the spiraling increase in breast cancer incidence and mortality in the Philippines, now considered the highest in Asia, there has been no organization, whether private or government focused on the issue of breast cancer alone, prior to the PBCN. All were general cancer groups that were hospital based, initiated by doctors which maintained a purely medical point of view. All were just preoccupied on how to cope with treatment, how to accept one's fate and how to prepare for one's death. None at all, even slightly touched on what causes cancer. The patient has no right to speak - no right to ask. A cancer patient in the Philippines has no more rights. They have always been considered to be the walking dead - people to be pitied and offered prayers for. It's just tough luck if you get breast cancer in the Philippines. During the recent deliberations on the Total Ban of Incinerators in our country, our Department of Health wanted an exemption for medical incinerators; our Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority wanted an exemption for chemical incinerators; and our Department of Environment wanted an exemption for solid waste incinerators. It was our government authorities and not the corporations who were adamant in the exemptions. During the Belgian Dioxin Scare, our Department of Health stated that our government was not in a position to do much about dioxin in our food, water and air supply...anyway, they said, "a little amount of dioxin was nothing to worry about." The 5-Year Health Priorities for Research of our Department of Science and Technology centers more on cure and treatment and simply looks at cancer as an unavoidable cost of progress. Our Department of Agriculture actively promotes and encourages chemical farming. Our media is more concerned with sensational news on rape and kidnapping, not realizing that the same violence is committed everyday on the bodies of hundreds of women diagnosed with breast cancer. The greatest risk of getting breast cancer tomorrow is being born today in a developing country. The greatest risk of not surviving breast cancer today is being a woman in the Philippines. But now, the landscape of breast cancer in the Philippines is changing. To this day, the PBCN has been able to enlist more than two hundred women with breast cancer and hundreds more of women at risk of getting it. The PBCN has conducted a series of 7 lectures and 6 symposiums all over the Philippines that had a total audience of more than a thousand. On October this year will be held the 2nd Philippine Conference on Breast Cancer. Just a month ago, a nurse who was moved by one of our provincial symposiums; a daughter who had just lost her mother to breast cancer; and a female surgeon who is disturbed by the high incidence of breast cancer in her locality, each made separate contact with us expressing their desires to do something. To commemorate the PBCN's 2nd year of existence, along with the efforts of these women, the PBCN will be launching the first major breast cancer prevention project in a rural area, a "Fight Breast Cancer Week" in the University of the Philippines and the first ever breast cancer symposiums among Filipino Muslim women. Talk about things just happening through some unseen hand. The PBCN has been moving forward and taking action, breaking the silence and shattering the walls of apathy and ignorance. We have been taking a journey in unknown territory that has never been seen in the Philippines. We have had to rely on help from friends here and there, now and then, in whatever form and in whatever way. We continue to uphold and defend our dignity and self-esteem - never cowing to statements that in raising funds, "beggars can't be choosers". Though we have not yet received any major funding from whatever source, we will never ever beg for our lives. A week before I attended the 2nd World Conference on Breast Cancer Advocacy in Brussels that was organized by the US National Breast Cancer Coalition four months ago, I had surgical removal for a recurrence. That did not prevent me from traveling because it was the very first opportunity for me to be a plenary speaker in an international setting. What almost prevented me from doing so was the treatment I received from the Belgian Embassy in Manila. They doubted the conference and they doubted me. It took five trips to the embassy within a two month period and several communications before they finally issued me a visa and believe it or not, just one day before my flight schedule. Recurrence for a woman with breast cancer is always an anxiety. But the recurrence of a foreign embassy's arrogance and discrimination of women living with breast cancer makes matters far more unbearable. Today, I stand before you, a single-breasted woman with a recurring hurt in my heart. I bear with me the memory of sixteen women from my country who have gone ahead and the faces of five women of my delegation who should have been among you right now, to witness this historical conference. The Philippine delegation to this 1999 World Conference on Breast Cancer underwent a radical mastectomy, performed by a supposed embassy of goodwill and friendship which has made them diplomatic surgeons armed with the skill and precision only a woman who has lost her breast can never forget. The Philippine Canadian Embassy felt that this World Conference was not reason enough to be granted an entry visa and worst of all, considered the Philippine delegation a scam. My five colleagues: a nine year breast cancer survivor, a medical doctor, a nutritionist and two physical therapists never felt so dejected and humiliated in all of their lives. They had prepared and looked forward to coming with me, most specially Chit Marfil, who said, "Do I have to undress and show these embassy consuls the scar on my chest?" Like men in white, these diplomats felt no need to explain themselves nor apologize for their acts. Imagine the shock I got when our delegation was called a scam and denied visas to this country? A delegation that I had so long and so hard worked for to realize? They cut up my delegation just like when my breast got cut off. They had rudely and coldly shut the door that was opened two years ago in Kingston where I was also all alone. Now, I find myself, all alone again! These incidences of recurrence in any form is just too much. What does it have to take for a woman to wage battle with breast cancer? Not only are we faced with the uncertainties of medical science and the greed of a cancer industry, but now, we are even insulted with the indifference and callousness of a host country's embassy officials. This most recent incident has now become an international concern which must be resolved. The outpouring of letters from all over the world in support of the rejected PBCN delegation to this conference has finally shown the true meaning of global action. Allow me to thank all who came out and expressed their outrage and giving me more reason to come to this country. But then, there will be no winners - only losers. On the side of the Canadian Embassy, their decisions must not be questioned, much more be pressured. On the side of the Philippine Breast Cancer Network, our motives and actions must not be undermined, much more, be insulted. On the side of the organizers of this world conference, this undertaking must not be doubted, much more, be exploited. On the side of women all over the world who are afflicted with breast cancer, our condition must not be compromised, much more, be aggravated. Women have long been the watershed of man's bruised ego. And when she gets breast cancer, she becomes his nightmare. She is cut, burned and poisoned but much worse, she is doubted, insulted and robbed of her dignity. She who nurtures life has lost her value. How much longer does this have to go on? How many more women have to sacrifice their lives? The anger and rage that burns within me is a sign that this will change. We have had two World Wars. We now have a world war in our midst - the global battle for the eradication of breast cancer. It will take all our energy and spirit - as no one else can possess, as much as women living with breast cancer. I call on all of you to learn from this conference. To go back to your countries and take initiative - to move fast forward and take strong action. To take matters in your own hands. I call on every country to each have a national breast cancer network. I call on the creation of a World Breast Cancer Network. Our numbers are growing and the army of breast cancer warriors are uniting and closing ranks - forging oneness in purpose. Together, we will wage an all-out life and death struggle against breast cancer......side by side with all women living with breast cancer, we will change the world......that all our daughters may never experience the pain and agony their mothers have long been suffering. And just by being with all of you today I am not anymore alone. I can feel the spirits of all our fallen warriors descending upon this hall, making me strong once again. I may have lost a breast and I may even lose my life....but I will never ever lose my heart. To each of you, I give all my love from deep beneath my bare chest. Rosa Meneses passed away in September 2000, she is mourned by women and men all around the world. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on the PBCN and its work: Philippine Breast Cancer Network 29 Nicanor Reyes Street; Loyola Heights; 1108 Quezon City, Philippines Tel: (932)426-3197; Fax: (632)426-3202 E-mail: pbcn@iname.com Website: http://pbcn.findhere.com Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.