I survived cancer

SELEBI-PHIKWE: A 63-year-old woman who has been living with sugar diabetes and high blood pressure for the past 15 years is a living testimony that cancer is curable if detected early and is subsequently well managed. Not only did Mantina Pheko undergo the painful and expensive cervical cancer treatment, she also had a cardiac pacemaker inserted next to her heart to help its contractions that had been severely affected by her BP and diabetic conditions.

Cardiac pacemaker surgery involves insertion of a battery under the breast skin and connecting it to the heart through an artery to complement the heart when it contracts slowly.  "I had gone to a hospital where the doctors discovered that my pulse had dropped below 60 and said that posed a serious threat to my health," Pheko says.