Thirty years ago, Janice Benecke was diagnosed with germ cell cancer. Fourteen years later, she found a lump on her breast. Today, in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she celebrates being cancer free for 14 years and shares her story to inspire hope and encourage movement.
At 64, Glenwood’s Janice is like dynamite. Nothing can stop her drive as marketing and events coordinator for the PinkDrive and its in-house campaign, More Balls Than Most, where she dedicates her life to promoting awareness and early detection and screening for gender-related cancers. Her passion is fueled by a 16-year-long battle with cancer, a devastating loss, and her own will to live hard and save lives.
In 1994, Janice was diagnosed with germ cell cancer. There was a golf ball size growth on her coccyx bone that had grown up her spine and spread to her lungs. Her blood count was three times higher than normal, and a CT scan revealed multiple tumours that would need surgery followed by intensive care. She was told to expect the worst.
“You can imagine how I felt. To me the worst is being told you are going to die, not you have cancer. I was also told that I might lose half of my lung. Luckily, that did not happen. They cut me from under my right breast all the way round to my spine. They scraped the cancer off my lungs and the bottom of my spine,” says Janice adding that to do this they had to remove one of her ribs.
“I was quite ill and weak from this major operation and, as I couldn’t stand the smell of food, I battled to eat anything since I was bringing up a lot of blood. And then my lungs began to collapse.”
What followed was a nightmare of scrambling nurses and doctors and needles and tubes, all to drain Janice’s lungs.
“After I regained consciousness, it was the first time I felt sorry for myself. I’d just been told I had cancer and that I needed six months of chemo while I lay confined to a bed with a tube in my lungs and another hospital stay ahead of me.”
But not one to linger in the clutches of depression, as soon as she was strong enough, she started physio, which Janice says really helped with her recovery, as well as chemo the following week. Since treatment had to be done in Durban – she and her late husband Charles lived in Empangeni at the time – Janice dreaded the long trips on bumpy old roads – there were no freeways then – that would take further toll on her already fragile state.
“I was on the Red Chemo commonly called The Little Red Devil for obvious reasons. I got very sick, lost a lot of weight and within two weeks my hair began to fall out and I decided to shave my head. After this, I was given the nickname cone head by my children, which I didn’t mind, as I understood it was their way of dealing with it all.”
Aside from chronic nausea, Janice suffered from constipation, aching bones and sensitivity to smells, but the worst, she said, was the painful big black ulcers in her mouth.
“There were two occasions throughout my illness that I cried in desperation. The first was when my lungs collapsed and the second from the sore mouth ulcers. It was an extremely hard time for me, but I had a village that stuck by me all the way. I had a gem of a husband who did everything for me, sisters who’d lock up their homes to come and help, and a good support group of friends. I put my trust in God to help keep me strong, and when I was finally cleared from cancer, we all cried and celebrated that I could continue living life.”
Fourteen years later, Janice, then a mother of three, found a lump on her left breast during a routine self-examination and an ultrasound and biopsy later revealed it was breast cancer.
“Surgery was scheduled and each stage was explained to me in detail, the last of which included a mastectomy. They removed 18 lymph nodes and I have a 15cm battle scar to prove it, but they managed to save my breast. Unfortunately, I was not out of the woods yet and needed more chemo. I was on Farmorubicin 5-FU and Endoxan, and on my third round, I flat lined. But, by God’s grace, it was not yet my time.”
It was while Janice was still undergoing chemo and radiation, that Charles began to show signs of ill health himself, and after 34 years of marriage and standing strong as a pillar of support for Janice, he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma – bone marrow cancer. He died seven months later, but not before learning that Janice had been cleared of breast cancer which was a relief for both of them.
“These trials have been tough – the pain, the emotions, they cannot even find my veins anymore and to this day I will not put a hat on my head if I can help it. But, losing the man I fell in love with at the age of 16 was the hardest blow. I could so easily have sunk into depression, but I took from this that I am alive – a walking miracle I like to think – to tell my story and hope that by encouraging early detection, can perhaps save a life.”
Starting with something as simple as handing out ribbons in a shopping mall, until early detection became her mission, today, Janice is the KZN marketing and events coordinator for her beloved PinkDrive. Her diary is always full, and she’s kept busy during the year planning Breast Cancer Awareness events for this month.
“Even if it’s just dedicating my time to having a cup of tea with someone with cancer to hear their story and give them hope, no gesture is ever too small to make a difference.”
Details: Follow the PinkDrive on IG and FB: @thepinkdrive or visit pinkdrive.org
