Help Nonhlanhla Heal After 3 Battles With Cancer

Nonhlanhla Patience Ramuhala used to describe herself in one breath: a go-getter, a bubbly person, a nurturer, a prayer warrior. She walked five kilometres a day. She was the heart of her family, caregiver to her mother, the woman preparing dinner before her husband walked in the door.

Then, in January 2022, that life changed in a single conversation. She was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, skin cancer on her face. It was the first of three times she would hear those words.

"It was very horrific to be told that I have cancer, more especially that it was on the face," she says. "I felt devastated."

Over the following years, Nonhlanhla fought the disease three separate times, through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and eventually a neck dissection. Each time, she says, was harder than the last. She lost her nose. She lost her hair. She lost the version of herself she recognised in the mirror.

"I am trying to reunite with myself," she says. "It's not easy, but I am trying."

What carried her through was her faith, gospel music, and a family who...