Thika, Kenya – Knitting was a childhood hobby of Mary Mwangi, a tall and talkative woman who runs a tailoring shop in Thika town in Kenya’s Kiambu County. But it was only in 2017, when she was bedridden for 11 months after having cancer treatment, that she picked it up again.The first time Mwangi was diagnosed, it was with spine cancer. Housebound and wanting to pass the time, she decided to knit hats, which she ended up donating to cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThen the next year, in 2018, her world was shaken when she was diagnosed again – this time with stage-three breast cancer.“I felt like it was the end of me when the diagnosis came out,” said the 52-year-old mother of three, who recalls being “terrified” at the news.She isolated herself from friends and family and even turned off her phone. “I told my husband that I don’t want to interact with anyone; the world felt so violent.”Mwangi had to undergo a mastectomy – a surgical removal of part or all of a breast – and 33 sessions of radiotherapy. In all, she was in treatment for four years, losing her hair and her savings in the process.“I had taken a 1.3-million-Kenyan-shilling (about $10,000) loan to expand my business as a tailor, and all was swept [away] by treatment,” …
