A Montreal pediatric ER doctor who battled breast cancer is the founder of More Than a Cure

Dr. Tamara (Tammy) Angela Ghafoor was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2022.

Despite being a pediatric ER doctor at the Montreal Children's Hospital, she never thought she would be one of the eight women diagnosed with breast cancer.

“You know it, you are it, or you can be it. “I didn't know it would be me one day,” Ghafoor said.

“This is not a disease that affects every woman equally. If you're a black woman with breast cancer, you're 41 percent more likely to die from the disease than your Caucasian counterparts.

Thankfully, he was one of the lucky survivors. But many women in marginalized communities don't know a thing or two about the challenges they face when battling cancer.

“I found a lump and everything changed. I had to undergo 20 rounds of radiation, six rounds of chemotherapy and surgery,” Ghafoor said. “Then I was also on immunotherapy for a year. I was surrounded by so much love. I have the most amazing partner, Dr. Olumide Adele, who has been with me throughout the journey. My family, friends.

“After I was told that I would be fine, I believed that I would be fine, and I can say that I was cured, thank God. I wanted to help make things better for other women who were going through it.”

This led her to found More Than a Cure (MTAC), a non-profit organization focused on empowering underserved and underserved women to fight breast cancer.

“I went through my own journey, and I realized how privileged I am in terms of family,” she said. “As I said, my husband, my friends, my support. I did not go to one meeting myself. There was always someone holding my hand, being in the medical field myself and connecting me with various medical professionals who could help me and even my understanding of the disease. The idea really came because I said, you know? We have to do something about it.”

And that's what he did.

“In Canada, in Quebec, we provide the basics. You get chemo, you get radiation, you get surgery, you figure it all out. But there is so much about breast cancer, the lives of people with breast cancer are so long that they don't get it, treatment is not available. Things like getting to and from your appointments. There were days when I was in the hospital every day. So this is an opportunity to provide this vehicle to women. A chance to give a cold hat to women who can't afford it and want to keep their hair. Access to occupational therapy and physical therapy to aid post-operative recovery. All of these are closed or not easily accessible to women. This is what we decided to do.

“With 16 outstanding women on our board of directors, we came together and founded More Than a Cure.” It is a disease because there is great financial toxicity associated with it, and I use the word toxicity because the costs associated with breast cancer can reach $800 to $1,000 a month in addition to what is covered in Canada. . And we are very happy for that. But it costs a lot. So some women ask themselves, can I live? It wasn't really a question I could allow to exist. And we had to do something about it.”

Dr. Tamara Ghafoor to be treated for breast cancer in 2022 (Submitted by: Dr. Tamara Ghafoor)

Dr. Ghafoor's surgeon, Dr. Stephanie Wong, now on the MTAC board, recommended cold cap therapy.

“Being a young woman with breast cancer, it's a completely different experience for me, and one of the biggest things I would say is that I have to be able to maintain my identity,” Ghafoor said. “I don't want to go into a room and be with people, I don't want pity. Support I can handle. I didn't want to. One of the most important things for me was being able to keep my hair. There is a cold cap therapy associated with this company that will send you the caps. You freeze your hair to minus 30 degrees. Yes, the possibility of freezing the follicles to save your hair with less chemotherapy on the ends of the hair seems pretty cool. So I was able to save 80 percent of it. So I've never been bald.

“And for our female warriors who are bald and want to stay bald, I say wear this with pride. For me, it was something I couldn't do and I was very happy with this therapy that allowed me to keep my hair.”

Dr. Ghafoor said 11 percent of women with breast cancer who need chemotherapy refuse to lose their hair because they don't want to.

“Women and their hair are important. This therapy has been around for 30 years in Europe. It was brought here recently, but it's not that popular.”

For more information on MoreThanACure.com, visit their website MoreThanACure.com.