Warriors and Survivors - 112

Children Cancer Stories by Rukh Yusuf - Blog # 112

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. 

Hamad was not even two years old when the family had a shock with diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Meaning he would end up spending the next year, a third of his short lifetime, in hospital undergoing grueling treatment. It all happened so sudden and fast that his mother was shocked. She said, I was thinking "they’re all wrong. There’s no way that it’s cancer, there must be a mistake in tests."

At not yet two years of age, happy and easygoing Hamad loved fun family times: playing in the park, playing with siblings, and laughing heartily. Both parents were like any other parents, enjoying life with their third-born child. But within weeks Hamad’s life as a care-free child changed altogether, not only Hamad’s but the whole family.

Hamad had developed an ongoing chest infection, and just didn’t seem to be getting better. “He was pale and lethargic, and his parents couldn’t do anything to get him better. The family doctor did a blood test and, within hours, suggested they should visit hospital and the family head straight to the local hospital Emergency. In a couple of days Hamad was admitted at oncology unit of Children’s Hospital, Lahore.

Hamad’s blood results showed increasing levels of blast cells, a key indicator of leukemia. He underwent a bone marrow aspirate and lumber puncture for doctors to confirm the diagnosis as acute lymphoblastic leukemia. When the formal diagnosis came, the news hit very hard.

“I pretty much just cried the whole couple of weeks after they told us that it is confirmed blood cancer. It was like a mental crash”, said his mother.

The day after diagnosis, Hamad had a port inserted in her chest for chemotherapy to be administered, but after the first round, the port became badly infected, and he had to be put in isolation. This precious young boy had a wound in his chest so large he had to go under general anesthetic every time the dressing was changed.

The treatments often triggered high fever, while Hamad’s reaction to steroids led to terrible screaming until he fell asleep. Hamad lost weight, which meant that he couldn’t walk for a time. As a 2-year-old, such difficult side effects were very hard to understand.

Hamad is now three and his intensive chemo treatment has stopped, meaning fewer hospital trips. Now Hamad has to attend Outpatient once a week, Both parents are so grateful to welcome a return to their normal family lives. 

Let’s pray for complete and safe recovery of Hamad, may he recover completely and stay healthy. Aameen. May his parents have happy and easy time with him. Aameen

Lots of prayers for Hamad and his 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