The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rheytrak Limited, a Vehicle Tracking and Recovery company licenced by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Eno Essien, speaks with IVORY UKONU about her battle with Breast Cancer, how she conquered the deadly disease and lived free of it for over five years. Excerpts
How did you discover that you had breast cancer?
It was the period I was having the best time of my life. My business had just turned five years. We had just opened our second branch in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. I got nominated for The Future Award, I just turned 30, and everything was just perfect, only for me to discover that I had cancer. I discovered a lump in my breast and when I told my mum about it, she asked me to leave it. I obliged as we didn’t expect it to be cancer. But a few months after, when I was on vacation in the UK on holiday, I decided to do a routine checkup. Again, my mum told me not to do anything about it and just come back to Nigeria.
Why was she insisting on you not checking it up?
Because she did not think that there was anything wrong with me. Besides, there is no history of cancer in my family and none of us ever thought the lump could be cancer.
At what point did you discover it was cancerous?
I mentioned it to a family friend who is a surgeon. I told him that I noticed a lump in my breast and he wondered what it was still doing there and told me to get it removed. So I took it out and they took it to the laboratory for histology and that was how it was discovered that it was cancerous.
At this point, I had ‘died.’ Regardless, I still went to two different laboratories and the results came back the same. Now when you get the lump taken out and it is cancerous, you need to go for further treatment.
Either you do a lumpectomy or mastectomy before undergoing chemotherapy. In my own case, I needed to do a lumpectomy, otherwise known as tylectomy, partial mastectomy, breast segmental resection, or breast-wide local excision, which is the surgical removal of a discrete portion or lump of breast tissue.
I was advised to go to America or the United Kingdom if I wanted to receive the best medical care. Alternatively, I was told I could go to India where I would get good-quality medical care. Since my sister is a resident of the UK, I decided to go for treatment there. In the company and with my mum, I left Nigeria within two weeks.
When I got to the UK, I was still hoping they would do a test and say there was nothing wrong with me, but, unfortunately, the test still came out showing that the lump was cancerous.
So I did a lumpectomy and had six rounds of chemotherapy and 20 rounds of radiotherapy. It was a terrible experience. I mean, it is the worst thing you can give to the human body. You are trying to treat the bad cells but you are also destroying the good cells. I lost my hair, lost my nails, lost my sense of taste.
How long have you been cancer-free?
10 years now
I hear there is sometimes a re-occurrence. Is it true?
It will never reoccur ever for me or people who have gone through the disease because it is not something you wish for an enemy. Chemotherapy is horrible. You can’t even walk sometimes.
I think the drug they used when I had chemo has now been replaced because I know people who take chemotherapy now and they are not as sick as I was. The first five days after my chemotherapy I was virtually abnormal.
I was unable to eat, my tongue was coloured black, and even drinking water was a challenge. I would throw up intermittently. There was a drug they administered that was supposed to help with the side effects of Chemotherapy. It is called anti-sickness.
Instead of protecting me from the side effects, that drug made me twice as sick. So, by the time I had the third chemo, I stopped taking it. I didn’t even tell the surgeon that I was no longer taking the drug. Chemotherapy is horrible.
Between the time you started receiving treatment for the disease and when you were certified free of cancer, how long was it?
I went in for the treatment in March 2012 and by January of the following year, I was done. But it wasn’t until maybe like three or four years after, I had asked the hospital for a report while I was trying to apply for a visa that the doctor wrote from a medical point of view that I was completely cleared.
After the treatment, I would undergo checkups two times a year until it reduced to once a year. They check your body using something called Cancer Marker. It is worthy to state here that when I detected the lump and went for a mammogram here in Nigeria, the machine did not detect the lump at first. In fact, they even refused to do the mammogram saying I had to be up to 40. But after much back and forth, I got it done.
How were you able to go through that period?
I had family and God. I thank God I’m a Christian and I also knew the word. My mum jokes that I become born again, again after I had cancer because when I had it, I didn’t know people could survive it so I was scared.
I tried not to google anything about cancer but instead expended my energy on studying the Holy Bible. I started to search for healing scriptures and I spoke those healing scriptures aloud to myself.
I never went to the hospital alone. My sister, my mum, and my brother were there for me. My sister would drive me to the hospital which was an hour and a half each time I had to be there.
Are you like other cancer survivors who immediately set up non-governmental organisations to help victims or survivors of cancer?
No. People say I should set up one, but there are already many NGOs. I don’t even know if they give out money. I don’t know what they do. I know they wear shirts and do rallies and make a lot of noise in October which is breast cancer awareness month, but I try to talk about my cancer experience in so many places as I am privileged to. What I do now is reach out to victims in my own personal capacity.
Immediately I hear someone has cancer, I look for the person’s number and give them a call. I have met so many women who have gone through cancer. I try to reach out to them because I believe that my story is one that can give them hope.
When I was dealing with mine, I asked the hospital if anyone survived cancer they said yes, many. Then I asked, what about a Nigerian that is my age and they responded in the affirmative.
So I understand when I call these people. I know how they are feeling, and I totally understand it so I sometimes go and sit down in the hospital with them as they are taking chemo, some I will go with them for their hospital appointments.
There is one that sent me a message on Instagram. I knew when she had the disease, she sent me a message saying she just had a baby and I was very happy for her. I try to reach out to these people, speak with them, to give them hope.
Hearing you have cancer is like a death sentence. When I was told I had cancer. my whole life just flashed before my eyes, I did not know people survived it. What I had was to hold onto God and then have the support of my family.
When you reach out to these people what is the feedback like?
Some of them passed away but many more have survived.
Did the people who survived it have their treatment in Nigeria?
Either here or outside, but more of the people I know who survived it had their treatment outside the country. This is not to put down our medical system, but it is what I observed. If you can afford to travel out for treatment, by all means, do. I couldn’t even afford my treatment.
The lack of money was killing me faster than cancer itself. The first time I went there, I thought I would just go, receive my treatment and come back to Nigeria, and be paying my bills later, after all that is what people do when they go to the US to give birth.
But the first shocker was that I had to pay in full. Seeing the amount, I told them that I was just a young businesswoman trying to hustle and that they should work out a payment plan for me.
Surprisingly they agreed. Not once did they call me for a day and say I missed my payment. I mean I could have left the UK without paying, but I have too much integrity to not keep my word. They were even times that I went to the UK to do my checkup and return to Nigeria to pay for it.
What lessons have you learnt as a cancer survivor?
Cancer made me a happier person. I realized I was not living before cancer. I used to think that I was living, but I was wrong. I was just existing. I started to live after cancer. I became more forgiving, kinder and I value my family more now.
We have always been close, but getting cancer made the bond stronger. If I don’t hear from someone in a long time, I reach out to the person because all that time I was in the UK receiving treatment, nobody knew what I was going through, and I did not tell anybody. I just took my things and I left.
Why?
I didn’t want to be surrounded by so many negative people. If I had gone on to say I had cancer I would be told that many people didn’t survive it. I didn’t want to hear such things. I just wanted to keep it within my family and go through it ourselves.
It wasn’t until seven years later that I spoke about it and people got to know. Before, they just wondered why I cut my hair and lost so much weight, not knowing chemo made me lose my hair and the effects of the drug on my body made me lose weight.
Another thing that cancer did for me is that I rang the closing bell at Nigeria Stock Exchange in commemoration of World Cancer Day. This was on February 1, 2020. My father Nsikak Essien also rang the closing bell at the Nigeria Stock Exchange when he was an editor with the National Concord.
So we made history as the first father and daughter in Nigeria to ring the closing bell at the Stock Exchange. So cancer, a seemingly bad thing that happened to me turned out well in my favour.
In fact, the testimony in my business was that the month that I was diagnosed with cancer my turnover was 100 percent. Despite the challenge of my health, I never shut down for one day, and business continued. I was receiving treatment and working at the same time.
Why were you chosen to ring the closing bell at the Stock Exchange?
I don’t know. Glory, grace, I suppose. I got a phone call that morning. My mum was with me. I used to have a habit of not picking up my calls and my mum couldn’t understand why.
So the phone kept ringing and I didn’t pick it up and she said ‘this call, you will pick it.’ And that was how I picked up that call asking me to ring the closing bell at the stock exchange. I look at my life in the last 10 years and where I am is nothing compared to where I was before I had cancer.
What will you say defines you more now after surviving cancer?
I love life. I want people to remember me for the things that I have done, for who I am, and the things that I have done with my health and in my business which is a male-dominated one. I was am the first female licensed CEO in the vehicle tracking industry.
Speaking of that, what prompted you to go into the car tracking business?
Interestingly, my childhood dream was to become a medical doctor but my jamb score was low so I got admission into the University of Calabar to study microbiology I thought after a year I will change but I’m grateful I did not.
One day, my mum gave me a newspaper write-up on Ibukun Awosika, a former First Bank chairman and I read her story where she talked about how she started the business at age 27 and that was the inspiration I needed.
I just wanted to be like her, and I wanted people to read about me as well. I did not know what it was, but I wanted to be successful. I would tell my mum then that by the time I’m 25, people will know me, and I will be successful. It was just word of the mouth, but it was an affirmation.
So, one day I went to visit a friend. She had just come in from the UK and I went to pick up things my sister sent through her, and unfortunately, armed robbers came in and took her husband’s friend’s car which she borrowed, and I was like how do you spend so much money to buy a car and somebody comes and takes the car away from you.
Curiosity led me into researching and I discovered GPS trackers. I began sending letters to companies in Europe that had this technology, and I got a response explaining this new technology.
I was curious and really wanted to know how it works so I bought the first device, put it in the car I was using then, and tried to understand how it works. I then began buying the device from the company that responded to me and re-selling them.
My very first client was May & Baker pharmaceutical company. The then managing director took a chance with me and the rest they say is history. Other jobs started to come from other corporate organisations. I have never worked, and I don’t have any work experience. I finished university and went straight into the business of selling perfumes before this car tracking business which announced me to the world. I have learnt everything I know about running a business on this job and it has been 15 years.
How has it been?
It has been good. At the time I started the car tracking business, there were only two others in the business in the country. We operate nationwide but have offices in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
My company also installs anti-smash, an installation that protects your car against traffic robbers. The good thing about it is that as the sun shines on your car, it gets stronger and more difficult for robbers to break into your car.
Many people now render the same kind of services as you do.
What will you say has set you apart from the others in the past 15 years?
The grace of God and the effectiveness of my product. I am licensed to do this by the Nigeria Communication Commission. I also work with the Nigeria Police Force. Also, integrity has set me apart all these years. It is my watchword.
When I tell you we will do it, we will, we are not going to tell you we will do something and along the way, we turn around or we change. We have been consistent. We have clients who insist to insurance companies that they want our tracker. The way we communicate with our clients, and schedule installations are some of the things that have set us apart.
Are there more women now in the business?
Yes, I know a few but I don’t know if they are licensed.
What will you say has been your greatest business challenge?
I have so many challenges. I mean every day comes with its own type of challenge. It may be from staff. Starting at 25 years, I have had to deal with people who are much older than me or having people who do not entirely believe in my vision or dream.
There is also the issue of networks. We work with network providers and there was a time there was a ban on the sale of sim cards. That was enough to cripple the business. What kept us was the stock of sims that we had. With telcos, it is a different challenge every day. The Internet is also an issue as well as different government policies.
How have you been able to overcome them?
I used to say I love challenges, but I won’t say that again before another one comes up. But I think challenges bring out the best in one.
What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?
Recovering stolen vehicles. I mean someone calls you in a very helpless situation and then a few hours later you call to say ‘your vehicle has been recovered it is at so and so police station you can go and pick up your vehicle.’ The joy is out of this world, it is priceless. Some would doubt you, some won’t believe you.
I remember a lady whose vehicle was recovered at Badagry border. It was an impossible situation and when it was recovered after five days, it had been repainted. So yes, my greatest achievement is being able to deliver on the promise that no matter where your car is we will find it.
Why didn’t you take after your dad who is a journalist?
My dad is actually an electrical engineer by profession. But I like to think we all write in my family which is most likely from my dad, but he is the finest journalist I ever know.
What exactly do you mean by the finest journalist?
He was an exceptional editor who did his job very well. My dad never cut corners, what is wrong is wrong and what is right is right. That is what we, his three children, learnt from him. He taught us to be content with what we have and that it is okay for one to dream big and work hard at achieving your dream. So, I did not pick up journalism, but I picked up integrity from him.
As a recipient of several awards, which is the most significant and why?
That should be the Exquisite Ladies of The Year (ELOY) Award for Woman Who Inspires. Other awards are the Nigeria Women Achievers Award for Enterprising Humanitarian Personality of the Year, and a recognition for my outstanding contribution as a role model and mentor to Nigerian youths. I was also recognized by the Akwa Ibom State Government, my home state, as an outstanding indigene in 2020 among several others.
I was shortlisted for the first edition of Bold Woman Award by Veuve Clicquot in Nigeria. Thousands of women applied for that award and during my interview, they said, ‘You have 20 minutes to tell us about yourself.’
And I started talking and I just thought to myself, I can’t tell you all about myself in 20 minutes. I have done so many things – in my business, my health – I can’t narrow it all down to 20 minutes. In the last 10 years, I have received awards and spoken on different platforms within Nigeria and outside Nigeria about my job in a male-dominated field. It takes a lot of courage and I have been brave enough to survive cancer. And that triggered my wanting to write a book about myself.
What will be the title?
I don’t know yet. I have a few things I have scribbled down, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m excited and looking forward to when it will be published. The book is basically about myself, more of an inspirational book.
With the advent of social media, there is a lot of compromises, everyone wants to get rich, and nobody really wants to work. People no longer question the source of one’s income. That is not how I want to bring up my young daughter. I want her to know you can actually work and get all you desire and be content.
When will the book be published?
Probably next year
How do you let off steam when you are not busy installing trackers?
I watch television. I used to play squash, but my daughter keeps me busy.
How would you like to be remembered?
I want to be remembered as a female who played in a male-dominated field when other women didn’t even dare to and I also want to be remembered as someone who despite the challenges, I mean, cancer is enough to cut one’s dream and one’s life short – I went through those challenges and survived.
