Cancer patients seek money

The cancer patients who have been lined up for Aga Khan Hospital treatment are yet to go after they  failed to raise money for accommodation.  Miriam Donohoe, the communications specialist at Hospice Africa Uganda  is   appealing for accommodation for its cancer patients receiving radiotherapy treatment in the Aga Khan hospital in Nairobi.

The charity, which cares for seriously ill and dying patients across three centres in Uganda, has confirmed that four cervical cancer patients are currently at the Aga Khan hospital receiving treatment following the breakdown of Uganda's only radiotherapy machine in April. Two more patients are due to travel next week."The patients are being funded under the Road to Care Programme, started by Canadian doctor Joda Kuk in 2011 after he saw the huge needs of women with cervical cancer in rural settings during a visit to Hospice," says Donohoe.

However, there is a problem accessing accommodation for its patients near the hospital due to cost. The female patients are receiving almost daily radiotherapy doses on an out patient basis. "We are appealing to anybody who can assist with accommodation, whether it be a hotel or guest house or any other organization, to make contact. Currently the four patients in Nairobi are in the same house and two are sleeping on the sitting room floor," says Donohoe.

After Uganda's only radiotherapy machine broke down in early April it was agreed to use the programme to send HAU patients to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi for treatment.

Separately the hospital announced it is working with the Ugandan government through the Ugandan Cancer Institute to provide free treatment for patients.

Under the Road to Care programme women with cervical cancer in rural parts of Uganda are assisted in making medical appointments in Kampala and then supported towards transport, and funds for their investigations and upkeep for the duration of their stay in hospital.

According to the HAU Chief Executive Director Dr Eddie Mwebesa, cervical cancer patients make up a large number of those on the HAU programme and this is the most common cancer seen among women referred for Palliative Care at Hospice.

"The Road to Care Prgoramme has proven very important. We are delighted that six of our patients are to be treated in Naoiribi. While it is a small number in the bigger scheme of things we are delighted that they have been given hope."Two of the 6 patients started treatment three weeks ago and are doing well, he said.

The tale of a cancer patient

My name is Grace Tumwine. I am 50years old, and a mother of nine. In August last year, I had a bloody discharge. But since I was on the injecta plan, a family planning method, I thought it was the cause of the bloody discharge. The discharge was abrupt. It would come and go. This went on for three months. I then started feeling light headed.

Worried, I went to Nyongoza health center two in Ntungamo. A test was done and I was told I was probably suffering from cervical cancer, and should seek further medical attention. However, a popular herbalist with a clinic in Ntungamo said he could cure me before the condition turned into cancer. He asked for sh150,000. I hurried home and sold one of my cows. I paid the money and the herbal doctor gave me a half liter bottle of herbs in liquid form, and asked me to take three tea-spoonfuls daily.

I took the medication for three weeks but the bloody discharge continued, and each day seemed worse than the previous. The discharge increased to the extent that when I started heavily staining my clothes. But my neighbours encouraged me that the increase in discharge was a result of the fallopian tube being flushed of all unhealthy organisms.

I stopped working on my farm and would stay home all day because I feared that I would get embarrassed if I soiled my clothes in public.After a month elapsed and I was still bleeding uncontrollably, I went back to the herbal clinic. And when I explained my predicament to the man who had given me that herbal medicine earlier, he said he needed more sh60,000 from me and I would get the final phase of treatment that would completely cure me. But I felt like I could not trust him anymore.

In anger I simply left his clinic and went home. After thinking hard about my condition, I got hold of the paper on which the diagnosis from the health center was written, ad went to Itojo hospital.

On reading the piece of paper, the doctors asked me to continue to Mbarara hospital to undergo a scan. I did as advised. At Mbarara hospital, the scan was done and I was told that I would receive a phone call to know the results.

After some time I received the phone call and I was told that I had cervical cancer. The caller further asked me to pack my bags because I would need to stay in hospital for a long time. I was so terrified. I knew my time to die had finally come. I told my husband and he was equally shocked. 

We didn't even want to discuss the matter further between us, we just went quiet. For four days, I stayed in our bedroom, hardly eating or drinking. I kept wondering how to break it to my children. I knew they would not be able to take it. I kept praying to God to give me the power to tell them. They kept saying I was ill because I was no longer the jolly mother they were used to.

Eventually, I packed my bags and went to Mbarara hospital. While there, I underwent counselling and realized that I could undergo treatment, and that I was not going to die. I shared the good news with my husband and children. While at Mbarara hospital, I was introduced to Hospice Uganda, which gives palliative care to people with life threatening illnesses and finally taken to Mulago hospital to start treatment.

I am now in the Uganda cancer institute hostel waiting to travel to the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi under the Road To Care Programme to start my radiation therapy, as the machine at Mulago is down. I would be grateful for any support rendered.