Raynolda Makhutle - Faith in Troubled Times

When one looks at Raynolda Mukhutle, there are so many aspects of her life that can be seen… she is a mother, a daughter, a woman with a beautiful soul, and a survivor of not one, but two different types of cancer. The first impression I got of her was when she rushed up to me and gave me a huge hug, lifting me off of my feet at a Cancer.vive meeting, a charity which we were both involved with. Her story of suffering and overcoming cancer to educate those around her has humbled me as a person, and I thought that this was the perfect first story to share about the power of faith.

“When I was diagnosed with cancer, I could not speak to anybody. I was a leader in my church and it was seen as an embarrassment. To me, it was like they were going to condemn me and say that I wasn’t praying enough.” This was the experience that Raynolda, or as she is affectionately called, Mama Ray, had to suffer through alone, and the exact reason that she has dedicated her life since then to making sure that nobody else has to suffer the same way that she did. In her community, cancer was a so-called “white man’s disease” and labelled as a punishment from God, and Mama Ray was horrified at being ostracized by her community, and her husband leaving her amidst her confusion and fear of having cancer. In stark contrast to this, she also expresses the support she received from her daughters and her mother, which helped her to stay positive through the treatment she was receiving, and eventually carried her through both ovarian and endometrial cancer into remission.

She speaks of the anger she felt towards the doctor that diagnosed her, and also towards the people that she had grown up with who were not there for her when she was initially diagnosed. She was also struck by the realisation that lack of education was responsible for all of the taboos surrounding cancer in her community. “To me, it was a totally new word. The only time you hear about cancer in our community is when people gather and whisper: ‘You know… she’s got cancer. She’s going to die!’ Now, death was just that. African communities don’t talk about death; we just don’t discuss it.”

It was then that Mama Ray knew that her journey was only just beginning. After being in remission, she made the decision that nobody would ever have to face the same hardships that she did, and in pursuit of this dream, she started to work at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital as a full-time caregiver and counsellor. A few years ago, she received the opportunity to be part of an oncology unit at WITS University because of her outstanding contribution towards cancer education.

Last year, Mama Ray counselled thousands of patients in hospitals all over South Africa, educating about cancer and spreading hope to all those whom she has talked to. She is also an ordained minister and regularly includes the subject of cancer in her sermons, debunking the myths behind the disease, especially in rural areas in the country.

Mama Ray was one victim of the horrible disease called cancer, but she stresses the message that it can happen to anybody. She has chosen to overcome her hurdle, and she inspires many others to do the same. She is truly an ordinary woman, with an extraordinary story.