President of Pink for Africa, an NGO that supports breast cancer victims, Juliette Mills-Lutterodt, says even though prayer is important when facing challenges such as battling breast cancer, women must seek medical attention.
Mrs Mills-Lutterodt believes some pastors are partly to blame for the high mortality rate in breast cancer cases in the country.
“In Keta, I met a lady whose breast has opened up as a flower because her pastor said we’re going to pray for you... I need every woman who is told they’re gonna pray for you to ask yourself if that pastor is sick, will he come to the congregation and ask you to only pray, or will he go to the doctor as well?”
A breast cancer survivor herself, Juliette Mills-Lutterodt, noted that God uses doctors and nurses to heal people so women should not run to herbalists and prayer centres searching for what cannot be found there.
“I couldn’t have gotten through my journey without God in my life but what I prayed for and what I asked God for was to send to be the right doctors and the right facility, to see the right nurses who have my best interest at heart and to take advantage of those people.”
“We should believe that God will heal us, but we should also believe that God’s child is the doctor, God’s child is the nurse… God himself doesn’t come from heaven to come and heal you,” she added.
Speaking on the maiden edition of GhanaWeb’s ‘The Untold’, Mrs Mills-Lutterodt appealed to women battling breast cancer not to risk their lives over fear of losing their breast.
“It will be great to understand that when you are sick, along with your church praying for you, along with you getting on your knees to pray, that you do not think that you don’t need the doctors… our herbalists are great, they are good for your malarias, stomach aches and your little sores. Cancer is not one of them, please go see a doctor.
Pink for Africa like other organisations, she said, is ready to subsidize the medical bills of women who cannot and also support breast cancer victims in any way possible to ensure more lives are saved.
