Warriors and Survivors -100

 Children Cancer Stories by Rukh Yusuf - Blog # 100

I am Rukh Yusuf, Clinical Pharmacist, also specialized in Total Parenteral Nutrition and Bone Marrow Transplant. I have been working in Pediatric Oncology unit of a public hospital for several years. The mission of this blog is to bring to you the real-life stories of child patients suffering from cancer. Cancer is still a difficult disease to handle and treat. However, when it strikes the children, some so young that they cannot even speak, their agony is beyond expression and words. Let us pray especially for children suffering from cancer for early and complete remission. May Allah shower His Merciful Blessings upon them. Aameen.

I have mixed feeling while writing one hundredth blog and, it’s not happy feeling or sense of achievement. Rather it’s a bit of sadness for these hundred children, few of them are not in this world anymore, and many are still suffering in silence. I could write about only one hundred of them and there are so many more in hospital, more in my city, and a lot more across the whole country in different pediatric oncology centers.

These flowers need attention, we need to save them from this disease. Cancer is affecting our new generation badly. Many have lost their lives and thousands are suffering badly.

14-year-old Zoya is set to have her fifth chemo cycle after complaints of pain in her ankle that led to her being diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer.

Zoya, from Lahore, came home from school one day complaining of a hurt ankle. She thought she has run a lot that day, so it was hurting. Her mother massaged her ankle and gave some pain killer. The next day, her ankle got swollen and her father thought it to be routine with kids running around. Initially, the girl's parents were not too worried about the ankle pain. But as time went on, their concerns grew.

A couple weeks went by, and her ankle was still hurting. Her mother looked at her ankle, it was really swollen, the tips of her toes were starting to twitch.

The parents took their daughter to be assessed by doctors and then they reached finally to children hospital, and she was eventually diagnosed with stage 3 osteosarcoma which was non metastatic.

Osteosarcoma is a type of bone cancer that often arises in the wide ends of long bones, such as the femur and tibia in the upper and lower leg, and the humerus in the upper arm, although it can also begin elsewhere in the body.

According to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer in children and teens and is the third most common cancer in teens overall, after lymphomas and brain tumors. Around 400 children and teens are diagnosed with osteosarcoma every year in the United States. Most cases occur in children and young adults after the age of 10. The cancer is extremely rare in children aged below 5 years old. In around 15-20 percent of cases, the cancer has spread by the time it is diagnosed, according to St Jude's. It typically spreads to the lungs, but also sometimes to other bones beyond the initial site.

Zoya’s parents were scared after their child's diagnosis, with doctors telling them that it will be a lengthy treatment. Zoya had to undergo chemotherapy to treat her cancer. Its Allah’s mercy that her disease is still non metastatic and has not reached her lungs.

Zoya has four other sisters, and all are students and Zoya is also student of 9^th grade. Zoya wishes for higher studies.

Five chemotherapy courses have been completed, but since a week Zoya is not feeling well. She is having mouth sores and she has become very weak. But she is hopeful about her recovery and still smiles. She believes she will be fine soon. "I know after a certain thing happens, I'm going to be completely fine, I'm not worried at all about the future," Zoya said.

Zoya’s father works as Photographer in a local firm and he has been spending all his savings for his daughter’s treatment. "Our savings have been consumed and I am humbling myself to ask for help, said her parents. They need support now.

Zoya is under treatment again; she is hopeful that she will be cured soon. Let’s pray that she recovers soon, and her disease never comes back. Aameen

Let’s pray for the early and complete recovery of Zoya, may she recover soon and able to see the world and her dreams come true again, Aameen. May her parents be able to smoothly complete her treatment.

Lots of prayers for Zoya and her family. May all the sick children recover soon, and their diseases never come back and may they live normal, healthy life again. Aameen

Note: Names have been changed to protect identity