Tag: cancer

• Eight-year-old boy requires N3m to live

Eight-year-old Joseph Olorunlagbara is full of life. Like any child his age, he likes jumping about but he cannot. His leg, which is cancerous has been amputated. But, the leg is yet to heal. Doctors wanted to amputate it again before his father, Pastor Sunday Olorunlagbara protested. Following his protest, little Joseph has been placed on radiotherapy.

Since radiotherapy costs money, the family needs help to enable Joseph undergo treatment. He must undergo a radiotherapy for five days every week for seven weeks at the Eko Hospital.

Joseph is one of many children battling with one cancer or the other.

Pastor Olorunlagbara said a pupil pushed his son while going out on break at school and he broke his femur bone.

He said a traditional bone-setter treated him and Joseph was on his feet walking again by December 2011.

But the worse happened when Joseph couldn’t get up to undress on January 10, last year, the day he was supposed to see the bonesetter.

“The shock discovery we noticed was that the leg had become shorter than the other one. So, I contacted Dr Segun Odunaike at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos (NOHIL) and he instructed that a Plaster of Paris (POP) should be cast on the leg. After that, my son couldn’t sleep all through the night. The following day, I took him back to the hospital and the POP was removed and part of his diseased bone was removed for pathological analysis. After the test, it was discovered that my son had cancer of the bone,’” he said.

The doctor recommended Dr Samuel Eyesan of Bowen University, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, “who asked us to take the sample to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and after 21 days the histological report showed that my son has high grade osteosarcoma.

“That was when they ordered my son’s leg to be amputated. But the leg became swollen again after about two months. So we did magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and they asked for further amputation, but I protested that what has been cut was close to his buttock and they saw reasons with me. And a team of experts met and agreed that we should place him on radiotherapy.

“That was when Dr Odunaike recommended Prof Ketiku to help manage the disease.”

A radiotherapist, Prof Kofi Duncan, said cancer should not be seen as a death sentence. People can live through it if it is detected early and managed well, he added.

An oncologist at LUTH, Dr Remi Ajekigbe said early detection is important for effective cancer management.

Giving reasons for bad outcomes, he said: “Patients often present late, which is critical to cancer management.”

Eyesan said Nigeria lacks expertise in cancer of the bone treatment.

The government should do something about this as bone cancer cases are increasing, he said.

Eyesan, formerly with NOHIL, said he had trained some experts, adding that more orthopaedic surgeons are needed to sub-specialise.

Eyesan said the Federal Government should look into that aspect of bone cancer management.

An expert in paediatric cancer at LUTH, Dr Edamisan Temiye, said more should be done by the government about cancer in children. He said the cancer drugs for them are expensive, adding that they are often neglected when it comes to proffering solution to cancer problems.

Temiye said children deserve similar, if not better cancer treatment and management.

Pastor Olorunlagbara is appealing to well-meaning Nigerians, corporate bodies and the government to save his dying son.

His account number: Olorunlagbara Sunday: UBA 2001112603.

Mrs Ada Okoroafor (not real name), a school teacher, has a lump in her breast. She decided to patronise a spiritualist to get cured but her health deteriorated after more than 10 weeks of binding and casting out of evil spirits responsible for her travail.

Her family realising that she might die, took her to a traditional healer. Rather than improve, her condition grew worse. By the time she was rushed to a cancer centre at the Federal Government-owned tertiary facility in Lagos, she died.

The consultant oncologist at the hospital where she was admitted said she presented late and there was little that could be done.

Mrs Halima Momodu, a trader who hails from Edo State, found something like a lump in her breast but applied shea butter, so that it can bring out puss. After many weeks the growth became larger. She was taken to a tertiary facility in Enugu State, where she breathed her last breath.

The case of Mrs Okoafor and Mrs Momodu are good examples of late presentations at hospitals.

How many Nigerians have died because they presented late and how many cases of cancer were reported?

Health Minister Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu said no fewer than 7,000 cancer cases were recorded in 11 tertiary hospitals across the country.

Chukwu said the Federal Government is, however, on top of the situation but advised that people should report to nearby health facilities for proper check-up.

He spoke at the opening  of the Fourth International Cancer Week in Lagos. The theme was Together it is possible to fight Cancer.

The minister assured that the disturbing data from the National System of Cancer Registry has received prompt Federal Government response with the procurement of two mobile cancer screening vans, 10 radiotherapy and nuclear medicine equipment. This step will reduce cancer and cancer related deaths and ensure proper screening and treatment even at the local communities level, he added.

Chukwu, represented by the Director of Procurement in the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Mr Samson Opaluwah, said the fight against cancer in the country was holistic.

The new cases, he said, were documented in the data collated through the support of the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN) tallies with the average estimated 100,000 new cases of cancers reported in the country yearly.

“In the data, about 60 per cent of cancers occur in women while 39.8 per cent were in men.  Statistics from the Ministry of Health showed breast cancer incidence had risen at least four times over the decade and accounted for 40 per cent of women cancers in 2010. This is followed by cervical cancer at 17.9 per cent, lymphomas and ovarian cancers follow respectively,” he added.

Chukwu said the two vans are to be equipped with cancer screening equipment, to examine people in the local communities for breast, cervical and prostrate cancers.

He said the government has increased human capacity, through local and international training, but added that early detection was key to treatment intervention.

On the way forward, he said: “Over eight resident doctors, nurses and pharmacists are undergoing training in readiness for the 10 Radiotherapy and nuclear medicine equipment being procured to increase the number of cancer treatment centres.

“In partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there are ongoing effort to upscale 10 more teaching hospitals to offer radiotherapy and nuclear medicine services in addition to the five existing ones.”

On cancer deaths, he identified late presentation of patients as the major cause.

The minister said palliative care services have been improved to care for those whose cancers were at advanced stage.

“We have 29 doctors, 42 nurses, 12 social workers in palliative care so that these patients get the best quality of life at the terminal stage. The essence of palliative care is to reduce pain.

Chukwu said his ministry has increased the importation of morphine for the production of liquid morphine at the Federal Manufacturing Laboratory, Yaba, Lagos to increase access to pain control at an affordable price.

“Dialogue is ongoing with cancer drug manufacturers as to develop strategies to bring down the cost cancer treatment,” he said.

The National Coordinator, National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP), Dr. Patience Osinubi said the theme of the week buttressed the crucial roles that all relevant stakeholders should play in the fight against cancer.

“It is a call on stakeholders to give their best to reduce the alarming incidences of cancer across the world,” Osinubi added.