Carol became the doctor who would have saved her mother’s life. She died when Carol was 13 years old. At one time taking up domestic work to feed her and her three siblings to becoming one of the few specialised urologists in Kenya with plans to pioneer in female urology.

As a resident in urology Carol is a specialist in training. “You are a student, you attend class in terms of practical medical training: theatre, run clinics, see patients in the ward,” she explains. Currently, Kenya has about 30 urologists with only one fully qualified female urologist (foreign trained) and three others – Carol among them – locally completing their residency training.

One night, Carol received a call from a patient who she knew did not have any severe condition and wondered why he was calling. When she picked the phone, he announced, “Doc, I have performed.” He was a patient suffering from erectile dysfunction and had undergone difficulties with the family over this for close to ten years. These are the happy moments that remind Carol of her role in the society even when the going gets tough.

Urology is a specialising in medicine we tend to know less about. While we hear much on cancer and the brain, we do not quite understand the scope of urology which not only covers our kidneys and urinary system but is also the specialisation that attends to erectile dysfunction and the male reproductive system. For the equivalent, women visit a gynaecologist and not a urologist. For this reason, the study of urology is anatomically male dominated leaving a gap in the specialised treatment of the urinal system in females as much as it can be attended to by a gynaecologist.

“When you look through books and look at the research done on urology, you will find there is so much about the male urinary system but little on women’s,” says Carol.

There is much less on female urology in the books

Another short fall is the lack of investment in technology for the better treatment of urological conditions. In Kenya, we are not yet fully implementing the laparoscopic and endoscopic technology while in the more developed countries urological surgery is now conducted using robotics, explains Dr. Carol.

“We are so behind, we are still cutting patients in places we should no longer be cutting,” she says.

In the case of situations such as cancers affecting the male reproductive system, the treatment is multi-disciplinary with the urologist, for example, relieving any blockages to the passing of urine and an oncologist managing the treatment of the cancer. This emphasises the usefulness of the multi-disciplinary committees that currently exist, where a group of doctors go over the holistic treatment a patient requires compared to them starting a new journey with each doctor at different stages of the treatment.

Carol considers herself a village girl. She was born and raised in an area known as Mbooni in Makueni County. She had never seen her mother healthy and had to take on a motherly role early in life. Her childhood was not sweet and going to school gave her a short reprise from the reality at home amid washing clothes, fetching water and tilling farms for pay.

“Every time I remember my childhood, I just remember seeing my mother suffer.”

“I never knew I am a clever girl until I got to class six and reality hit me that I am soon going to lose my mum and I thought I had to work hard to become a kidney doctor to try and treat my mother.”

Carol reflects on the past

The family could barely afford the small dispensaries in the area. The mother’s kidney disease however required a kidney transplant. They could not facilitate this and the mother told Carol, “just take me home, I need to rest.”

By the time Carol finished primary school she did not have hopes of joining high school. She became a house girl to a neighbour. A few months down the line, one of her primary school teachers who strongly believed in Carol’s capabilities found a sponsor for her; she was a doctor from Makueni, Dr. Yvonne Taylor, who took her through high school and medical school. In high school, her class teacher became another strong influence in her life. The teacher obliged her to do all three sciences. Even as she was doubtful, the class teacher, Mr. Mbithi, who knew about her past, ensured she kept the faith of becoming that doctor who would have served her mother. A powerful example of the undervalued force of a teacher in shaping our children’s futures.

Dr. Yvonne Taylor is still in Makueni, running the NGO One Heart With Africa.

The culture shock of joining medical school was dissecting the body, “You want to be a doctor but you do not know what it takes to be a doctor; some dropped out,” Carol explains. She was assigned a body that she guarded as the special item that would grant her the future in the practice.

Despite the hardening at medical school, Carol has developed an appreciation for life, “Even on someone’s death bed when everybody has lost hope, I always believe there is hope and I still get affected. It takes a long journey to lose a life.”

Carol is spiritual and has experienced what she calls medical miracles, “There are things I have seen in surgery that I cannot fully explain.”

When the prognosis is poor and the cost continues to be high, Carol will forego her consultancy fee to be able to treat the patient but the cost of using equipment and medication remains a challenge to many patients.

Dr. Matu, her mentor, has held Carol’s hand through her residency in urology, where he oversees her work and supports her through gains and losses alongside her strong family: her husband, siblings and two daughters. Being a resident is not easy but they find a way to spend time together. The children grow up knowing that the life of a doctor is demanding.

Selfie after a successful surgery