Once upon a time, a girl named Sandra had her first menstrual period, but with excruciating pain and heavy bleeding for more than three days. She had to change sanitary napkins several times and this often raised questions from those around her. Unfortunately, since menstruation was considered taboo, she was condemned to suffer in silence and without complaint.

The pain she went through was considered a preparation for the life of a woman and mother to which she was called. After several episodes of catastrophic cycles, of dysmenorrhea that prevented her from living peacefully and often prevented her from going to school, it became obvious that she needed to see a doctor. Thus began her long journey through the hospitals, going from doctor to doctor and from diagnosis to diagnosis with no real change. The situation continued to deteriorate until, on a trip abroad, she had the opportunity to see a specialist who gave her a clear diagnosis.

This was finally a ray of hope as the doctor discovered that she had severe dysmenorrhea which made her anemic and hyperovulate. She was able to take a different treatment which improved the situation a little but did not solve her problem completely. A few years later, the pain of the ovarian cysts brought her back to the emergency room. In 2006, one side of her abdomen was enlarging very rapidly and she was getting weaker and weaker. After several tests and analyses, the verdict was in. She had ovarian cancer. 

Everything went so fast because after only a few weeks she had undergone a 4-hour surgery, started chemotherapy for 4 months, experienced total hair loss and suffered other side effects from the treatment, namely insomnia, abnormal heartbeat, brittle bones, strong anemia, continuous constipation, breathing problems, damaged veins due to the intense sessions of chemotherapy. Having a very weakened immune system due to the treatment, she picked up infections easily which kept her in the hospital.

Sometimes she had to be completely isolated to follow the treatment of an infection. She also had to have regular tests and scans to check for cancer markers and to monitor the progress of her treatment. Despite this, she had never missed a treatment session, which had contributed greatly to the success of her chemotherapy program.

Then, one morning on August 11, 2006, the sun came up and the light was on as the miracle occurred. Sandra finally woke up from her nightmare as she walked into her doctor’s office, took her seat and heard, “Happy Birthday Sandra and Congratulations. Your markers are at 0 and all tests are good.” The long-awaited sentence fell:

You are cured of cancer, go celebrate. Since that day, Sandra celebrates her birthday as a rebirth. She had this chance thanks to an early detection. You have to learn to listen to your body and make the decision to see a doctor when something is wrong.

Sandra Matenda