Governor Nyong'o opens up about cancer diagnosis

He danced to the podium to cheers from the audience.

Dressed in a navy-blue suit, white shirt, and dotted navy-blue tie, Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o looked full of life and happy.

This time, however, he was not speaking as a governor.

He stood before the audience as a cancer survivor.

Watching proudly as he made calculated steps to the podium was his wife, Dorothy Nyong'o, whom he applauded for standing by him throughout his cancer journey as his caregiver.

Nyong'o revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010.

The doctor's words plunged him into silence.

He was seated beside Dorothy when the diagnosis was delivered.

"I want to begin, if you will permit me, not as governor, but as a survivor," he said.

"In 2010, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I remember the particular silence that follows those words. It's not the silence of an empty room; it is the silence of a mind trying to absorb something too large to face," added Prof Nyong'o.

Nyong'o said he was fortunate to access treatment in San Francisco.

But even then, he said, it was his family, led by Dorothy, that carried him through one of the most difficult moments of his life.

"I had a family that held me together, led, as always, by my wife Dorothy," he said.

That experience became the beginning of something much bigger.

Rather than allowing the diagnosis to define their lives, the couple transformed it into a mission to ensure other families would not walk the same journey alone.

"It was not born in a boardroom. It was born at a bedside," Nyong'o said of the Africa Cancer Foundation.

He recalled asking a question that has guided the Foundation's work for the past 15 years.

"If this is what it took for us, with resources, with connections, with access to specialists on several continents, what happens to the mother in Kilifi, or the fisherman in Kisumu, who feels a lump, or a persistent pain, and has no idea what it means, no money to find out, and no one to tell him it is not a death sentence?"

The question became the foundation's mission.

Over the years, the foundation has championed cancer awareness, advocated for better policies and improved access to screening and treatment.

Working with county governments, development partners and advocacy organisations, it has helped place cancer firmly on Kenya's public health agenda.

The organisation has also partnered with County First Ladies, Roche, the International Cancer Institute and Women4Cancer to conduct cancer screening in 27 counties.

At least more than 36,000 Kenyans have received free breast, cervical and prostate cancer screening, while volunteers have been trained to support communities in early detection.

Nyong'o was speaking during the Foundation's 15th anniversary celebrations, themed "Own Your Cancer Story—Prevention, Early Detection, Treatment and Care."

He said the theme reflected not only his personal journey but also Kenya's growing cancer burden.

When the Foundation was established, Kenya recorded about 37,000 new cancer cases annually.

Today, the country records about 45,000 new cases every year, a figure projected to rise to nearly 58,000 within the next two years.

"Cancer is no longer a rare disease or something that happens to other people in other countries," he said.

"It is here. It is in our markets, our churches, our matatus and our county hospitals."

Yet many patients, he noted, continue to receive a diagnosis too late because of limited awareness, poor access to screening and financial barriers.

Drawing from his experience as a former Minister for Medical Services and now Governor of Kisumu, Nyong'o reflected on how persistence has shaped Kenya's progress in cancer care.

He recalled championing the establishment of a cancer centre at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH).

The proposal had initially been dismissed by many as too ambitious.

Today, he said, the country has regional cancer centres in Nakuru, Mombasa and Garissa, while others are coming up in Kisumu, Nyeri and Kisii.

"We now understand that when we decentralise cancer care, we do not simply reduce distance; we increase survival," he said.

He said one of the legacies he hopes to leave in Kisumu is a stronger system for treating both cancer and blood disorders such as sickle cell disease.

He said the new cancer centre at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital has been designed to include Kenya's first public bone marrow transplant unit, a project now being advanced by the national government.

Kisumu is also preparing to pilot PanTum Detect, a multi-cancer early detection blood test, at the upcoming Chun Jeong Un Nyong'o Cancer Centre to assess its effectiveness within Kenya's healthcare system.

But beyond hospitals and technology, Nyong'o said one of the greatest challenges remains bridging the gap between medicine and what ordinary Kenyans can access.

He applauded the Africa Cancer Foundation for narrowing that gap through awareness, screening and early detection.

"I have watched Dorothy work with Kenyan First Ladies to establish Empower Clinics across the country from nothing. I have seen volunteers give up their weekends to screen strangers in church halls and community grounds. I have met women who walked in afraid and walked out informed. In this fight, information is often the difference between life and death," he said.

As the Foundation marked 15 years, Nyong'o urged Kenyans to see the anniversary not simply as a celebration of past achievements but as a commitment to the work still ahead.

The Foundation is building a one-million-dollar endowment fund to sustain its programmes while seeking to raise between Sh15 million and Sh30 million to support cancer screening, volunteer training and efforts to close gaps in cancer care.

"Every shilling raised today becomes a screening for someone who has never had one. It becomes training for a volunteer who will save a stranger's life through early detection. It becomes hope, delivered on time, to someone who, like I once did, is sitting in a silence too large to hold alone," he said.

The governor further reminded Kenyans that cancer, in one way or another, eventually touches every family.

"Each of us has a cancer story. Some of us are survivors. Some are caregivers. Some are clinicians. Some have buried someone we loved," he said.

"Many of us do not yet know that cancer will one day become part of our story. What we choose to do today will determine how those stories end," added the Prof.

As part of the anniversary activities, Africa Cancer Foundation deployed its Clinic on Wheels, a mobile cancer screening unit funded by Tiba Foundation.

The unit offered breast and cervical cancer screening for women of reproductive age, prostate cancer screening for men aged 40 and above, HPV testing and ultrasound services, demonstrating AfrCF’s commitment to bringing screening services closer to communities.

“Early detection changes the course of cancer care. When cancer is found early, treatment is simpler, outcomes are better and lives are saved,” said Dr Gladwell Kiarie, a consultant medical oncologist and President, Kenya Society of Haematology and Oncology.

Kiarie said Africa Cancer Foundation has helped take awareness and screening closer to communities that would otherwise have limited access.

“Cancer care is a shared responsibility, and stronger partnerships are essential to ensure no Kenyan is left behind because of where they live or what they can afford,” added the specialist.

The commemoration comes at a time when thousands of families struggle to access cancer care, with screening remaining a challenge.

This underscores the urgent need for stronger public awareness, timely screening, referral pathways and sustained support for patients and caregivers.