I used to think breast cancer was something far away. Something that happened to “other people”. I never really believed it existed too.
Until it hit home. I lost someone I grew up around, a mother figure. Then it happened to someone else, a grandmother figure in my life. Suddenly, breast cancer wasn’t abstract anymore. It was painful. It was real. Most of all it was shocking. I try my best to not think about that day.
Well, while working under Prof. A. O. Adetunmbi at his lab, Data Science & Intelligence Lab, under the supervision of Mr. Ugwu Chukwuemeka and direct supervision of my beloved Ms. Oyewole Rukayat 🤭🙈... My team ended up working on breast cancer. I was an intern, eager to learn, and I learned a ton. I was trusted to carry out/implement major parts of the project, and that gave me courage.
The project stalled. Life happened. But when it came time to choose my final year project under the supervision of Prof. D.T. Akomolafe, I built a hybrid system to:
- 👉 Detect breast cancer from histopathology images.
- 👉 Explore possible links to phytochemicals that could inhibit tumor growth.
It was messy. It was overwhelming. Went to the library, read, drew architecture over architecture, laughed my head out when I got frustrated. Many times, the medical terms looked like Spanish to me. But I kept reading, learning, coding, and asking questions.
When I first presented this research at a conference, the reaction shocked me. People were impressed. My mom even got calls. Yet I still didn’t post about the work. I told myself: It’s not perfect. It’s not significant yet. 😂🙈
But I had my internal defense this month and just yesterday, my external defense—the final step of this long journey. I re-realized that research isn’t about perfection. It’s about growth, courage, and daring to ask questions even when you don’t have all the answers.
So today, I choose to share. Not because the project is flawless, but because it mattered to me, and hopefully one day, to others too.
