I cried throughout my wife’s cancer treatment - Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng [VIDEO]

On Thursday, October 6, 2022, journalist and philanthropist Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng inaugurated the Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project in memory of his late wife who passed in June this year.

His wife, Amina Oppong Kwarteng, died in Turkey where she was undergoing radiotherapy after a mastectomy (a surgery to remove all breast tissue as a way to treat or prevent breast cancer), at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

Last week, when he sat with The Mirror to chronicle how cancer affected his family, he said since she was diagnosed to her death, he wept every day as he couldn’t stand the pain and emotional trauma his wife was going through.

“I don’t even want to recollect the journey because we suffered a lot. She was going through hell and there were so many days when I ran to the washroom, cried and washed my face. She was very strong. During the treatment, there were days she didn’t want me to know she was in pain but I couldn’t even stand watching her suffer,’’ he narrated.

Mr Kwarteng recounted that his wife, whom he had been married to for 20 years, never complained of breast pain till nine months before her death.

Tests after she sought medical assessment indicated cancer in her left breast, which had started spreading to her armpit. She started chemotherapy, changed her diet and later had surgery.
The family decided to continue the treatment process with radiotherapy at a health facility in Turkey and it was there she passed away.

Grieving in a strange land
Mr Kwarteng said he was shocked at the pace at which his wife’s condition deteriorated.

“She left Accra well and in good spirits with her sister as I was writing examinations then so I was to join her after my last paper. She was to do 25 sessions of radiotherapy but started having pains in the arm near the affected breast. After 15 sessions, the area around her armpit got swollen making it difficult for her to continue,” he said.

He said when he joined her after his exam, he was stunned to see how her breathing pattern had changed and how she looked physically.

The days after were difficult as she had to be moved from the ward to the intensive care unit following several complications and an accumulation of fluid around her lungs.

 Mrs Kwarteng during her treatment in Turkey

On the day she passed, Mr Kwarteng narrated how he was in the bathroom when he heard his phone ring repeatedly.

“There were specific times for visiting at the intensive care so when I heard a female white woman’s voice at the end of the line asking that I come to the hospital, I immediately knew all was not well.

“I don’t know how I managed to get there as I feared the worst had happened. When I arrived they asked me to wait for an interpreter who finally uttered the words, “we tried our best”. I didn’t know what to say, I lost my voice and could feel my legs wobbling,” he said.

He said he couldn’t even muster the courage to go look at her and started calling family back home to inform them.
“There, I was grieving in a land where we both had no family and most of the people around me couldn’t even speak English. You can imagine that anxiety and emotional trap. She passed on Saturday so I decided to leave the next day. They mentioned that the flight I was leaving with could carry the corpse but I couldn’t come to terms with the truth that she was dead. How were they expecting me to return home with my wife as a “body” in that state? They found another flight scheduled for Tuesday and that was what she came in.”

Our family has never been the same
Mr Kwateng said even before her demise, which had left a gap in their home, their four children — all boys, aged between 19 and 10--- had their share of the pain.

Mrs Kwarteng's death has left a gap in their family

“Just three days ago, my third boy told me that my second son cried at school every day after their mother was diagnosed. He had seen what she was going through during chemotherapy and couldn’t cry in her presence. After her death, the youngest told me he had three different dreams and in all of them, their mother was dead. We were all around her so we felt the pain she was going through,” he said.

“When I returned from Turkey after her death and I was trying to tell them what had happened in a “nice” way, he started crying even before I broke the news. Later, he told me because of the dreams he had had earlier, he anticipated it when I returned to Ghana without her.

“Also, he had realised that there were many people in the house which was unusual. When I returned, he persistently asked where his mother was. I think sometimes in the heat of the moment, we forget about the children and what they could also be going through,” he said.

Their first son, Ismail (face covered with hands) couldn't hold back tears when the body of his mom arrived in Ghana for burial

Mr Kwarteng, who is known for the many philanthropic work he does with Crime Check Foundation, said the treatment process and cost of returning his wife to Ghana was not cheap and remained grateful to the individuals who supported his family during those hard times.

Meena Breast Cancer Awareness Project
The Crime Check Foundation already embarks on health projects under its Health Check Series and he is hoping to use his family’s experience to create awareness of breast cancer and support affected families who need financial aid.
“Our initiative is not a “Pink October” initiative where we only talk about breast cancer only in October. My family has felt the pain of what it means to have a relative diagnosed and the loss that could come out of it.
“Lumps and pains in the breast don’t start in October alone. When my wife was diagnosed she was at almost stage three of cancer and had not seen any symptoms. We need to do education, sensitisation and provide the platform for people to be screened and learn how to self-examine their breasts,” he explained.

Mr Kwateng recently launched a breast cancer awareness project in honour of his wife, Amina

The foundation, he said, would work on getting stakeholders together to lobby, and put pressure on the government to put some policies in place, adding that “even if it means embarking on a demonstration, which is the language most of our politicians understand, we will embark on such campaigns peacefully just to get the government’s attention. Many people are dying from cancer and we cannot sit down unconcerned. We are drawing a year-round lineup of activities, not an “October” plan.

Background
Mr Kwarteng works with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and is a member of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ). He is the Executive Director of Crime Check Foundation and the Ambassador Extraordinaire of Ghana Prisons.

Mr Kwarteng is popular for the work he does in prison

A Chevening scholar, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Cape Coast, a Master of Arts in English from the University of Ghana, Legon and a Master of Arts in International Journalism (Chevening) from Brunel University, London.
He is currently a PhD student at the School of Migration, University of Ghana.