Childhood cancer is stealthily stealing the country’s young. Despite the ravages of this non-communicable disease and the toxic effects of the treatment regimen, their chances of survival remain slim. Their predicament is made worse by the high cost of treatment and inadequate facilities for cancer management. Tessy Igomu reports

With a pale appearance and left eyeball grossly engorged, Nathaniel gradually slipped back to consciousness after undergoing a medical procedure at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba.

Sleepily, he touched his lower back, covered by surgical plaster and winced.

Nathaniel had just undergone a medical procedure that required a specimen to be taken from his spinal cord for a test.

As he sat upon a bed inside the LUTH Paediatric Oncology Ward, Dupe, his mother, helped him into a comfortable sitting position, and gently wiped off tears and a whitish discharge from the affected eye.

Nathaniel is eight, but his young body has endured so much pain and discomfort in two years.

He was diagnosed with cancer (orbital myeloid sarcoma), in 2018 at Queen’s Hospital, the United Kingdom, after several biopsies carried out in Nigeria failed to give an accurate diagnosis.

His father, Ebisidor Nabena, told PUNCH Healthwise that the disease has infiltrated his orbital soft tissue.

“We were told that if the growth is not promptly operated, it could lead to acute myeloid leukaemia, an advanced dangerous state,” he said dejectedly.

Nathaniel’s ailment had begun with a slight swelling, but in no time, the eyeball started gorging out of its socket.

He was initially taken for treatment at the Eye Foundation Hospital in Ikeja and later referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, for further management.

Nathaniel’s tissue was taken for biopsy, but several laboratories in Nigeria gave conflicting histopathology results.

“It was Queen’s Hospital, United Kingdom, that gave us an accurate diagnosis. The tissue was couriered there,” said his father.

Nathaniel has not been able to undergo surgery or radiation at LASUTH, because doctors discovered the tumour was close to his optic nerve and brain.

His father said despite several hospital visits, months of admission and treatments, the disease still relapses.

He decried the high cost of managing the ailment, noting that it has eaten deep into the family’s purse.

“The doctor said it was risky to carry out radiation and referred him to the Oncology Department for chemotherapy.

“When it comes to the health and life of your child, money spent becomes immaterial. But it has really cost us a fortune.

“I have spent not less than N10 million. His stay in the hospital usually lasts between two to three months.

“To carry out periodic Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) costs N80, 000, while full blood count, which is done every other day, is N2, 000.

“Chemotherapy drugs are not cheap. The one he is to take now for maintenance costs N295, 000, per vial and he needs five of it for three days.

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Childhood cancer: A silent epidemic stealing Nigeria’s young