My Faith In God Helped Me Stand Up To Cancer

When Dr Elewechi Okike was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, she instantly turned to her faith for answers. Joy Tibbs spoke to her about her life of victory in the face of adversity.

- Joy Tibbs

Elewechi Okike’s life has been fraught with danger right from the womb. She discovered as an adult that her parents had tried to abort her, feeling they couldn’t cope with a third child. However, God had other plans and Elewechi miraculously survived.

During the Nigerian civil war, Elewechi, who was pregnant at the time, had a gun held to her head – again, God mercifully rescued her. So when she discovered a lump in her breast five years ago, she turned to God for help.

“I had attended a women’s conference some time previously,” the mother-of-four and grandmother-of-three recalls. “One of the talks encouraged us to take care to examine our breasts. Because I had attended that, I just felt the urge to check my breasts one morning. I tried the right one and then the left one, and couldn’t believe what I was feeling.”

Under attack

She made an appointment with her GP, who happened to be Nigerian and the pastor of a church in Sunderland. “He looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Yes, it’s a real lump.’ I felt tears dropping down from my eyes. “

Elewechi went to see a consultant, who also happened to be a Nigerian Christian, and he referred her to a pathologist for a scan. The tests came back inconclusive, as the pathologist had not seen a lump like it before. Still waiting for clarification, Elewechi had it surgically removed to prevent any potential spread. A sample was sent to the regional pathologist, who also drew a blank, so it was passed to a national pathologist.