Durban — Instead of blowing out candles on his first birthday cake in January, little Ziphozenkosi Dlomo from Ntuzuma cried uncontrollably and ended up in hospital.
Doctors treated the one-year-old boy for constipation and he was sent home. This happened more than once until his symptoms took a sinister turn. While the initial blood results showed that he was anaemic and confirmed why his skin was pale, the symptoms progressed and by then he had constant fever spikes, nosebleeds and his little feet were swollen making it hard for the active toddler to walk or crawl.
“So the doctor said it like how it happens in the movies, ‘I have some bad news, we suspect cancer,’” said Nqobile Dlomo, the toddler’s mom.
“Immediately, he referred us to a haematologist. Without delay they started the chemotherapy while waiting for all the confirmatory results and it confirmed that it was leukaemia,” said Dlomo.
Ziphozenkosi who was nicknamed “Tyson the fighter” by his dad was confined to hospital for about three months as his body fought the disease, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). However, this week Dlomo said the words that most parents dread: “I don't know how much time we have.”
DKMS Africa, the global organisation raising awareness about various blood disorders, says that little Tyson experienced a severe reaction to the chemotherapy and had to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at his local hospital. Now, he urgently needs a blood stem cell transplant from a matching donor to save his life.
“AML impairs cells from carrying out their normal functions. It is the second most common form of leukaemia in children, and if left untreated, can be rapidly fatal,” said Palesa Mokomele, Head of Community Engagement and Communications at DKMS Africa.
“Sadly, there is currently no match for him on the stem cell registry yet. We urge healthy South Africans between the ages of 17 and 55 to register as donors and give this little boy a chance at a long life,” said Mokomele.
Dlomo said the citation has taken a physical and mental toll on all of them. Ziphozenkosi’s three siblings who are all under 18 years of age need her attention, her husband needs her support and it breaks her heart every night when she heads to the hospital straight after to work to see her baby. Some nights of the week she sleeps at the hospital and at other times it will be someone else from the family.
“Obviously he cries when I leave so it sucks sometimes because when I come in he wants me to hold him. Sometimes I can't hold him, it just depends where the PVC line is placed. Because he has to go to the theatre for them to place it so I have to be very careful. Sometimes I am able to hold him. Sometimes I'm not able to hold him. He does not understand,” she said.
Dlomo said when Ziphozenkosi was in the intensive care unit there were so many pipes coming out of him that it even suppressed his voice and they couldn’t hear, even when he was crying.
Over the past few months she has witnessed heartbreaking scenes. Recently her son had three abdominal operations where they worked on his intestines. He also had heart problems, multi-drug resistance, a spinal infection, Klebsiella, jaundice, kidney failure and a range of other complications. However, through it all he kept on smiling. For the family however there are several other issues they have to resolve. The spiralling costs of nappies, transport to and from the hospital every day and from Pietermaritzburg for his dad because he works there, a Jojo tank so that they can fill it with the sterile water he needs to survive and a lack of leave days from work to spend time with him. But most of all Dlomo has begged those who sign up as stem cell donors not to say yes to becoming donors and then having a change of heart when they are called to act.
“It shatters the person whose life was about to be changed. So, rather, if they're not willing to go through the whole process, don't do it at all. Parents must be educated as well because their 18-year-olds are donating but parents can stop them,” she said.
Mokomele said in light of World Blood Cancer Day on 28 May, all parents should know how to identify the early warning signs of childhood cancer.
Sunday Tribune