By Trevor Makonyonga
Mbira artist, Hope Masike has revealed that she is not pregnant but rather suffers from fibroids.
This comes after she posted what seemed to be a baby bump on her Facebook page.
Congratulatory messages had poured in wishing her well.
However, Masike released a two minute video explaining that she intended to create awareness on women’s health issues.
“This week I posted that picture that went viral of me and my big belly. It wasn’t fake, we were not doing any movie but my belly looks like that for sure. So the news is I am not pregnant. Thank you so much for the lovely congrats messages, I felt the love but I am not pregnant. I instead have what we call fibroids. They are tumors that grow inside or outside your uterus, the womb. I have had mine for years so they are now quite exceptionally huge. I just thought, women’s health and things like fibroids are not spoken of that much. They are under-researched and us the women suffering from these things don’t talk about it.”
She also said that it was essential for women with fibroids to come together to avoid being manipulated by spiritualists whom she described as fake.
“I thought I would come in the open about this and rally together a group of women who have suffered from fibroids or suffering from fibroids. It’s coming together and sharing experiences. I think that is one of the ways of empowering each other because I know there a lot of fake herbalists, traditional healers even pastors out there who are telling a lot of women that if you drink this then the fibroids will go.”
She also encouraged women with this condition to offer each other psychological support.
“A lot of women are suffering in silence and going through the wrong experiences or the wrong medications and following the wrong advise because we are not sharing information. I would like to invite all women in Zimbabwe, in Africa and across this entire globe. If you are suffering from fibroids or if you have ever had them in your life, please share your story with me publicly online if you want or come to my inbox privately. Please share. I need the psychological support and I am sure there is a whole lot of other women out there who need the same king of support but have nowhere to find it. I know for a fact that there are a lot of women that are suffering from fibroids and I cannot mention names here.”
Information retrieved from healthline.com indicate that fibroids are abnormal growths that develop in or on a woman’s uterus.
Sometimes these tumors become quite large and cause severe abdominal pain and heavy periods. In other cases, they cause no signs or symptoms at all. The growths are typically noncancerous. The cause of fibroids is unknown. Fibroids are also known by the following names, leiomyomas, myomas, uterine myomas and fibro.
It is said that about up to 80 percent of women have them by the age of 50. However, most women don’t have any symptoms and may never know they have fibroids.
