Mama Melissa Foundation has built a brand new Cancer Centre in the Embu-Mbeere area of Kenya.
On the 11th of January 2025, we celebrated the grand opening of Mama Melissa Cancer Support Centre at Rwika, Embu County, Kenya.
The centre is intended as welcoming and caring environment that provide support, information and practical advice to women affected by breast cancer and enable them to deal with a cancer diagnosis. It will also offer wellbeing sessions and workshops to complement conventional cancer therapy.
A special thank you goes to our generous donors for making it happen.
Please see below for a video of the grand opening, as well as some images from the grand opening, and also of the site as the building took shape...
More photos from April 2024 of the builders adding a water tower to the new centre...
More photos from August 2024.
Nearly finished...!
Breast Cancer Support
Breast cancer is the leading cancer and the most common cancer among women in the world. In Kenya, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. The diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer are stressful events and may result in a wide range of physical, psychological, and social effects that may influence the patient’s needs.
Feeling negative about your body image is one of the most common psychological effects women diagnosed with breast cancer experience especially women who have undergone a mastectomy. We all know that breasts are important for female beauty and sexuality, this includes individual self-perception and observation of the reaction of others. Therefore, in breast cancer patients (particularly the patients who undergo a mastectomy), their body may suffer traumatic changes related to the presences of tumour and the removal of a tumour on a breast which may lead to psychological problems such as depression.
A Different Experience
In the United Kingdom, every women diagnosed with breast cancer is given two free prosthesis and all surgical bras are tax free, making them available for women to purchase. In addition, every breast cancer patient in the UK who undergoes mastectomy is offered breast reconstruction surgery free under the NHS.
The situation is very different in Kenya. Women breast cancer patients in Kenya not only struggle to access breast cancer treatments, they are also unable to access affordable breast prosthesis and surgical bras, which can help them with self esteem and have a positive effect on their mental wellbeing.
Thank you
We would like to say a massive thank you to Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK for the amazing donation of surgical bra and prosthesis. A special thanks goes to Caroline Oates, Breast Care Nurse at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, for her enormous support.