MIPtalk» Healthcare

Molebatsi Pooe-Shongwe – Me, My Breasts and I

Noam Dromi — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 21:41:00 +0000

3 separate doctors told ‘Batsi Pooe-Shongwe the lump under her breast was benign. Just before her 37th birthday a specialist confirmed it was malignant.

She started the organization BreastSens in South Africa with the goal of ending the shame associated with cancer. She explains that patients there sometimes turn down chemotherapy for fear of being shunned by neighbors who mistake the treatment’s side effects with AIDS. Batsi knows of one young woman who refused to have a mastectomy because she was afraid it would harm her chances of getting married.

Here she tells a little about about her story:

Let me introduce myself. My name is Molebatsi Pooe-Shongwe, person living with cancer - currently in remission- and founder of BreastSens. I was diagnosed on 25 April 2006 – (28 days after my 37th birthday) after I had had a lumpectomy to remove a “benign lump.” My world froze after my specialist surgeon informed me that “the harmless benign lump” – as I had been reassured by THREE doctors, was in fact malignant. I felt breathless, my stomach was in knots and I wanted to throw up. It felt like I had been punched in the gut. This, I imagine is how you feel at the moment. Petrified. Devastated. Overwhelmed. ALONE IN AN INSANE WORLD. I empathize.

I had a bilateral mastectomy on 18 May 2006 – followed by 6 sessions of chemotherapy. My nightmare did not end here. I was diagnosed with chemotherapy induced cardiomyopathy (congestive heart disease) a week after my last session of chemotherapy. Talk of a double whammy!!! I was scheduled to have a transplant this month (October 2007) but mercifully I am grateful to share that my heart muscle has “miraculously restored” itself. I am as healthy as a fiddle. There is hope and I am a true embodiment of that. Let my recovery be a light in your hour of darkness. BreastSens is here for you – please allow me to hold your hand as you walk this treacherous path. Reach deep within yourself and discover your will to live. Your inner strength.

We caught with with Batsi at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative.

Episode 12 – Susan Larson – A Language Is A Dialect With An Army

Noam Dromi — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:29:59 +0000

This week’s guest is Dr. Susan Larson. A researcher and writer by profession, she currently works as an education specialist for the US Army Minneapolis Recruiting Battalion. She has previously been employed by the Department of Homeland Security, a researcher on the international “Finland-Swedish Women and Immigration” project, and an author and editor for Encyclopedia Britannica.

Previously, Larson was the executive director of the Swedish Council of America; executive director of the University of Minnesota Center for Scandinavian Studies Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch and the founder of the Finnish Studies Program at UC Berkeley, where she held various program director, instructor and research positions.

Join us for a broad discussion on topics ranging from the social and cultural programs in the Scandinavian countries to the value of education in the military.

For additional reference we’ve included links to some of the people, places and things discussed in this episode: