WOMEN should start learning to value themselves.
These were the words of cancer survivor Reapi Nayacakalou who urged women to prioritise their health and not let it be an afterthought. “Women will think about everyone else but themselves and that’s a fact,” she said.
“We will think about our husbands, our children, our extended families but for our health is relegated to the back of everything else.
“We don’t value ourselves enough. They have to know their worth in the family. “Once they do that then they will be able to see that having a routine medical check-up is a form of that.
“They have to realise that going to the doctor and making an appointment with a health professional is part of taking care of themselves.”
Mrs Nayacakalou is a mother of twin boys and has been a regular figure for Pinktober campaigns held in the Western Division. Recruited by the Fiji Cancer Society, the Rewa native was diagnosed with cancer in 2015.
Of her experience, she said it was a wake-up call that she needed.
“If I didn’t go through something like that I still wouldn’t care about my health and what my body needs and don’t need. “Now that I faced it head on and went through it, I never want to put myself last again.
“If I did, I’d probably be long gone by now.”
The 55-year-old has been on a mission since 2017 to urge women to get routine medical checks.
“I have a very loud mouth and I am not afraid to tell it like it is.
“So I will tell people in explicit detail what had happened to me because that is what could happen to any woman if they are not careful.
“I bled uncontrollably for six months in 2015 and I went through a hard time just trying to find out what was wrong with me.
“It was one of the most challenging time for me and my family.”
Mrs Nayacakalou was a special guest at this year’s Plantation Island Resort’s Pinktober fundraiser held for the first time earlier this month.
