Suzan is a thirty-seven year old and mother of three children. After two years of suffering for unknown reasons, she was finally diagnosed with breast cancer. She says: “The symptoms started like eczema on the left breast. I visited four dermatologists and they did not discover it was breast cancer, until what they thought was eczema, started to bleed.” At a private hospital, she underwent a mastectomy and was referred to the King Hussein Cancer Center to start chemotherapy treatment.

“When I came to the Center for the first time, I was scared and I felt like I was the only one with this disease. But there were many people there with various types of cancer, and my feelings changed somewhat when I realized I was not alone in this predicament. The reception I got from the doctors and the nurses and the care that I received relieved me, and I was convinced that God created diseases alongside with their treatment.”

After meeting with the doctor, who explained a positive prognosis in a simplified manner, Suzan became was embarrassed because “I had exaggerated my fears and overreacted when I learned that I had breast cancer.” However, she trusted in God in her treatment, and she knew that she had a great chance at survival.

After Suzan’s complete mastectomy of her left breast and the removal of her lumph nodes, she was given 8 doses of chemotherapy at the Center. The duration of her treatment was very difficult: “my hair fell, my skin color changed, and my immunity was weakened,” she recalls. This prompted the doctor to place her in isolation and under intensive care for several days. She says it was her faith in  God that “lifted my morals and comforted” her. Two years ago, Suzan underwent reconstructive surgery, she made history by becoming the first patient to undergo such an operation at King Hussein Cancer Center. 

After Suzan completed her chemotherapy, she began eating a healthy diet and soon she regained the weight she lost during her treatment, returning to her normal level. Suzan says: “I believe that my strong faith in God and the support of my husband and parents had a great effect on my response to treatment and thus, I was able to overcome this difficult phase despite its health and psychological effects which continued throughout my treatment. I tried to hide what I was suffering from, so as not to increase my despair when I would see tears of sadness from loved ones in solidarity with me.” Suzan adds, laughing, that one of the funniest things that happened during her chemotherapy treatments was the recipes and herbal mixtures visitors brought to her, trying to convince her to try them. They came bearing stories of people who took them and were cured of the disease to support their claims.”

Suzan says: “My faith in God made me insist on beating this disease and putting an end to it before it killed me. I convinced myself that cancer is not fatal and that I have a message to give to my family. I resisted with all my strength and I defeated it.”

After Suzan was afflicted with the disease she quit her job. Today she works as a volunteer at the Sanad Support Group at the King Hussein Cancer Center to help other patients with cancer. She offers moral and psychological support to them. She is determined to go on with her volunteer work which has given extraordinary satisfaction and a strong reason to help others by offering her assistance. Along with her volunteer work, she now has more time to spend with her husband and family.