READ THIS TOUCHING STORY OF A 3 YEAR OLD CANCER SURVIVOR - FULL STORY

Matilda Obiajunwa, a graduate of creative arts from University of Lagos (UNILAG), is founder and Chief Projects Coordinator of Daivyan Cancer Foundation. In this interview, Obiajunwa talks about childhood cancer, using the experience of her three years six months old son, who survived kidney cancer, as case study. 

*You run a foundation. Can you tell us what led you into it?

Yes, I run the Daivyan Children Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization officially registered with the CAC on June 10, 2016. I am the founder and Chief Projects Coordinator. The foundation is named after my third child ‘Daivyan’; my little boy who is three years six months now. 

In July 2015, he fell ill and was rushed to a renowned hospital on the mainland axis of Lagos. First, he was running very high temperature, fever, vomiting and had loss of appetite. After some tests, we were transferred to the hospital’s head branch which was bigger with more facilities. 

There they ran some more tests, did scan, x – ray and all of that. Finally, we were informed that my son had intestinal obstruction. We were told the paediatric surgeon will come in to see us but he never did. We were referred to LASUTH on the instruction of the pediatric surgeon that never got to see my son. We got to LASUTH to do the surgery to remove whatever was obstructing the intestine. 

At the last minute before the surgery, the surgeon re – examined my son and said he didn’t have intestinal obstruction, that they will refer us back to the hospital that sent us there with advice that they treat sepsis. We went back and they started treating sepsis. 

A few weeks later, we were discharged. Lest I forget, when my son was first admitted, he had a slight lump on the left side of his stomach, we drew the doctors’ attention to it and they said it was nothing to worry about. A few weeks after my son’s discharge, his stomach started growing big, just as his weight loss became more apparent. We got really worried. 

Then a doctor friend advised that we do CT scan; there it was, nephroblastoma – kidney cancer with metastasis to the lungs. He was already in stage 4. The journey from then was crazy, horrific, life threatening with no information at the time on childhood cancer. 

It took the grace of God for us to go through that journey and come out well but our experience fuelled in us the passion to reach out, educate people on the symptoms and also be there to counsel patients, families and caregivers, through the different facets of their cancer journey, because, for us, it is more of empathy, more of the desire to want to bridge the gap between these children, their families and the society. 

It is not a fight for one, it is a fight for all, the rate of cancer is now alarming we can only do our bit for humanity and hope that God preserves us. 

*Quite touching story. How has the journey been? 

It’s not been easy. God’s grace has kept us. I am a creative person. I was working on a TV talk show before this whole episode of my life started playing out. Right there in India,

 I made a pledge to God that if He gave Daivyan a second chance, I will dedicate my life and talent to help children battling cancer and their families. In less than one year, we have had three major events geared towards creating awareness and raising funds for children battling cancer and their families. 

All three events were hugely successful. It has not been easy but we are hoping that corporate organizations and even well -meaning individuals can see what we are doing and decide to partner with us by investing in our projects. 

I said investing ‘cos you are investing in the future of this nation. Ten years down the line, these children, if well supported, would have become great survivors doing awesome things to help the growth of our nation. 

For me, it is not about the present pain or story, it is about the tomorrow’s glory which I hope to be identified with. 

*How many cases do you have? 

Within the past year, we have had over fifteen cases which we supported. We started by donating drugs, most of Daivyan’s drugs which we came back with in excess, we will give to those in need of same drugs, then we will support with part payment of hospital fees e.t.c. We have lost quite a number of kids and we still have a large number currently battling cancer. Recently we took up a particular case. 

This is the case of a little boy who we have been supporting for some time now but his condition started deteriorating, he was in urgent need of very expensive chemo drugs. So we decided to go out of our way to save him. 

This made us start the #SaveBabyMutairu campaign. So far he is done with his first course of chemotherapy and he is responding to treatment. His tumor has shrunk considerably and his eyeballs are now visible. We believe that by the time he has completed the full course of chemotherapy, Mutairu will be joining the great list of childhood cancer survivors ‘cos it takes a great child to beat cancer. 

*Tell us about your events. 

We have three events which will become annual events. The first one is an awareness march, where we march to create awareness on Children’s Day. Last year, we had over 500 children from different schools and the theme was ‘NO CHILD SHOULD SUFFER ALONE’ . 

This year, there is so much lined up. The foundation will be celebrating her first anniversary with the march. We are going to have over 1000 children plus adults from all walks of life. It’s a Saturday, so there is no excuse of work, it will be awesome. Our theme this year is ‘LET’S FIGHT IT TOGETHER’. All we are doing is drawing the attention of the general public to this scourge. We all need to be involved. 

“In September last year, which was the International Childhood Cancer Month, we decided to do more to help these kids. So we organized a fund raiser/awareness/games competition, tagged, ‘THE GOLD CHALLENGE’, different schools participated voluntarily, funds were raised and cheques handed to parents of children battling cancer at the time. That was the first and we look forward to a bigger one this year. The third one is what we call ‘THE MERRY GOLD-RED CHRISTMAS’ . 

This event is strictly at the hospital ward where we celebrate Christmas with the children with gifts, goodie bags for everyone and something new to present to the ward. It’s all about making their Christmas an awesome one and leaving a smile on their faces. 

*How do you work? Do you have employees or you work alone? 

How can I work alone? I would have given up. God has been faithful. We have almost 15 volunteers currently working tirelessly for the foundation. It is a team of awesome people that understand the passion, believe in the dream and they are giving it their all. I love them so much and they make me believe anything is achievable with their support, not forgetting my no1 volunteer, that is my husband. May God bless him and all our volunteers. 

*What do you look forward to?

 I look forward to a future free of childhood cancer but that is obviously a tall dream. I look forward to a permanent cure. It will make the gloomy picture look brighter as we continue to inspire hope in families. I also look forward to bigger partnerships. This will make our work a lot easier. We intend to procure some very expensive machines that will aid the work of doctors at the LUTH Paediatric Oncology Ward. 

We cannot afford such machines and so we are looking forward to partnerships that can help us achieve this; I always say ‘whilst donations and support keep pouring in for the IDPs, it will be good for such support to be extended to people I’d refer to as HDPs- Healthcare Denied Persons’.