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LAWRENCE SMITH / Things
Miriam Fuimaono, was diagnosed with breast cancer two months after turning 40 this year.
An Auckland bodybuilder who thought she was too fit and healthy to get sick is warning women, especially those in Pasifika, to pay attention to their health after battling cancer this year.
Miriam Fuimaono, 40, describes herself as a gym enthusiast, exercising every day without fail, sometimes twice a day, for the past three years, while competing on the bodybuilding stage.
She used to work out so hard that pulling a muscle or injuring herself became normal for her.
So when she noticed a dimple under her left breast in the bathroom mirror in March, she didn’t think too much about it and went about her day.
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Fuimaono, center, on stage at a bodybuilding competition in 2019.
He had also just turned 40 a few months earlier and felt like he was in his prime, so he was too fit to get sick.
“I remember sitting on what I saw for a couple of days after seeing it, and then, on a whim, I decided to look at the Breast Cancer Foundation,” the East Aucklander said.
“The signs told me it needed to be checked.”
Fuimaono made an appointment with her GP a week later and it was confirmed that she had a cancerous lump on her breast.
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Fuimaono said her son Nate, family and friends at LivFit Health in Onehunga have been supporting her on her journey against cancer.
After a mammogram and an ultrasound, a doctor told him the most dreaded news: There was not just one tumor, there were two.
“It was stage two [cancer]I didn’t know much about cancer, but I’m very glad I caught it early. It has been a really strange year, not only in the physical aspect, but also in my mental and emotional well-being, it suffered a severe blow “.
During confinement in April, she underwent a mastectomy and reconstruction on her left breast, but the cancer cells had spread.
Fuimaono underwent four rounds of chemotherapy, the last part of his mastectomy reconstruction, and although he is presumed to have beaten the cancer, the ongoing treatment has taken a lot out of him.
LAWRENCE SMITH / Things
Fuimaono wants people to know that despite beating cancer, the ongoing treatment and its effect on her body has been devastating.
“There is the misconception that once you go through chemotherapy and surgery, that’s it, but there is ongoing treatment and a lot of people don’t realize this. It’s a very long journey. “
She hopes and prays that she never has to fight cancer again.
“It has been an incredibly surreal year, I can’t believe I survived it. I was diagnosed at a time in my life when I was fitter and healthier.
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Pasifika women are more likely to die from breast cancer than any other ethnic group in New Zealand.
“I don’t want to scare everyone, but even I was not immune to cancer.”
Fuimaono also believes that her experience has placed her in a unique position to inspire Pacific women to realize the importance of being mindful of their breast health.
According to the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, Pacific women are 54% more likely to die from breast cancer than other New Zealand women, despite having a similar risk to other women of developing the same disease.
A 2018 study of ethnic disparities in breast cancer survival rates in New Zealand, and what factors contribute to those rates, found that one of the biggest contributors was late diagnosis.
“Women of the Pacific, we love to put ourselves last and everyone else first. We can take care of everything and everyone else, but neglect ourselves, ”Fuimaono said.
Fuimaono will be taking part in the Pink Ribbon Walk in Auckland on November 14 and although he did it before years ago, this time it will be more personal and emotional.
“Right now I’m focused on recovering. I just want to enjoy the rest of the year, I come out the other side a bit broken, bruised and tired, but really grateful to have beaten breast cancer.
