Mr. Pink

My name is Isaac Appiah also known as Mr. Pink Ghana. I am 26 years old. I was born and live in Accra, Ghana. My breast cancer story started in 2014 when I lost my single mother to breast cancer. I have lived with my mother since I was 5 years old, I am the last born of her four children. The bond between a last born and the mother is always special. Her death made me an orphan. I had lost my father three years earlier.

My mother started feeling a lump in her breast in 2011. She showed it to me however, during the time I had less knowledge about what was happening to her. I advised that she goes to the hospital when she is she gets money. She later had surgery to take it out and it was placed in a container for her to take to a laboratory for biopsy. She never did. Sooner than later, she had the lump in her breast again. This time she saw blood come out of her nipple each time she pressed it. She took it to the hospital and had surgery. One of her breast was cut off. She was then advised by the doctor to go through chemotherapy. She had several sessions of chemotherapy till the doctor said she was okay for now. Through all this she went to the hospital alone all the time. In 2014, she complained of having fever. She could not pay my university fees any longer. I had to stop studying marketing at the University of Professional Studies, Accra. I was about going to level 300 by then. My mother was the only person supporting me financially. I had to stop schooling to take to the hospital all the time. She became weaker as the days go by. We had to move from hospital to hospital in Accra. Since the doctors knew she was going to die, they didn’t want to admit her at the hospital.

On September 6th 2014, I lost my mother to breast cancer. She always smiled through the pain of fighting cancer. She was such a strong woman and always had hope of surviving breast cancer. I buried my mother on November 1st, 2014. She became an angel to watch over me. It was through taking my mother to the hospital I started developing the passion to help save lives. I decided I was going to be nurse. I had to place my story on Facebook for help. By the grace of God, some people decided to pay my fees into the nursing school. I got enrolled into nursing school and at a church seminar, I was inspired by our Reverend’s husband to start a foundation. Re. Mrs. Grace Lartey and her husband Justice Lartey decided to be board members of the foundation. The name of my foundation is "Treasure Motherhood Foundation". In 2016, I had a surgery to remove a lump from my breast. Most people do not know men also have breast lumps or breast cancer. Since my mother died of breast cancer it was important to take out the lump for further investigation which turned out to be benign (non-cancerous). My experience through surgery and having the scar on my breast inspires more to educate people about breast cancer. I want to give strength and hope to those who feel all is lost because they have cancer or lost a loved one to cancer.

Treasure Motherhood foundation is a registered NGO in Ghana which’s aim is to create breast cancer awareness and terminal illness. My foundation organizes programs at churches, schools, market places in Accra to educate people about breast cancer. My foundation has also been able to help women suffering from breast cancer to get support from other foundations who have the

financial power. Funding my foundation as a student has been my greatest challenge. I created a

team with its members being friends and other people who believe in my ideas. These people contribute to help me organize programs. My foundation has three annual programs aside going to churches and schools to educate people about breast cancer.

My foundation organizes Clean breast out, Clean breast cancer out is a cleaning exercise which is organized at a market. We clean the whole market, educate the women about breast cancer and also screen the women for free. Secondly, my foundation organizes screening saves, give the breast out for the youth: This is the newest initiative brought up by me. I brought this program because a 25-year-old woman

died of breast cancer this year. I felt very sad about it. My foundation got people to contribute money on social media to help her but eventually she died. I decided to educate the youth about breast cancer and also get them screened. The main edition of this program will be on Saturday 14th October 2017. My aim is to inspire the youth to live a healthy lifestyle and to also know that this is the time to take good care of ourselves.

Lastly, my foundation organizes Pink Christmas; Pink Christmas is an even where we visit women treating breast cancer or have survived breast cancer. I started this initiative 3 years ago. We visit about three women on 26th of December to give them gifts. The gifts include rice, oil, vegetables and some small amount of money to help them enjoy the festive season. I believe during the treatment of cancer; most patients do not go to work hence the they spend all the money they have on the treatment. I also believe these gifts put smiles on their faces and make

them happy during the festive season.

My social media handle is @mrpinkgh on all platforms such Facebook, Instagram and twitter. My email address is isaacappiah2008@gmail.com. I have an upcoming health website aimed to inspire a healthy Africa. This website will feature African celebrities to share their health life and

also serve as a health news portal to the African continent. You can do well to visit my health

blog www.Africahealthtales.com. I am hoping to connect with anyone who is touched by my story and want to help my foundation or collaborate to help me achieve my dreams. This is an amazing initiative by Pink Treasures 98. I am happy to share my story with the world and I hope my story inspires whoever reads it. I am hoping the best comes out of this.