Why parents must know their children’s health status —Dr Nneka Nwobbi

WHAT informed your choice of career?

I have always wanted to be a doctor. I also knew I was going to work with children. My parents actually thought I would teach because I was always gathering children around me. I used to play doctor and nurse as a child. By the time I was in secondary school, I was convinced I was going to do medicine. When I did Joint Admission Examination Board (JAMB) examination, I didn’t meet up with the cut off point for Medicine so I was offered Biochemistry. That was not what I wanted so I had to wait a while until I was admitted for medicine. I was doing residency in paediatric when I came across many children suffering from cancer whose parents didn’t have anywhere to go to for help. At that time almost all the charities around had to do with breast cancer and cervical cancer but none for children.

What motivated you to start CLWCF?

Like I said earlier, I love children. Coming across a boy that was almost three years when I met with him who died because his parents could not afford the treatment anymore. About that time, what they needed was about N25, 000 every month. After his death, I decided to ask my friends and family if they can help another child to pay for her admission and treatment. That was how I started. As we grew, other people started helping us though we are yet to get help from big organisations or grant from anywhere.

Until recently, we have not been hearing about childhood cancer, when did it start and what are the causes of cancer in children?

Childhood cancer has been in existence for long. We learnt about it in medical school. I started my foundation 15 years ago, that is to show that it is not a recent thing. It has always been there but the truth is that people don’t always pay attention to children in Nigeria. Even as it is now, the people I talk to about it always tell me it is a laudable cause but they will ask me to come and talk about breast cancer. I always tell them that is not my area of focus. In Nigeria, people don’t want to hear negative things about their children. Even when we were doing awareness campaign, some people didn’t want to listen to us. Though now, we are making headways because we have been going to school to teach students that children too can and do have cancers. They, in turn, tell their parents about it. Some parents now want to know what it is all about. There is no known cause for cancer in children. It is not lifestyle dependent the way adult cancers are. Although there are some associations like living under high tension wire and illnesses like Down syndrome, Leukaemia, etc.

There are 10 different types of cancer in children.  The commonest cancer we see in Lagos  is Leukaemia-cancer of the white blood cell; also at Igbobi, they see mostly cancers of the bones and muscles. Others include; cancer of the eye, cancer of the liver, cancer of the ovary and so on.

What are the symptoms parents should look out for in their children?

They should look out for what we call Saint Siluan Signs. S –seek  help early for persistent symptoms, I-Eye ; white spots in the eye, new squint, blindness and bulging eye, Lump in abdomen and pelvis, head and neck, limbs,testes and glands, Unexplained fever, loss of weight and appetite, pallor, fatigue, easy bruising or bleeding from the gum or into the urine, Aching in bones, joints, back and easy fractures. Neurological- this has to do with change in behaviour, balance, gait and milestones, headaches and enlarging heads. These signs are easy to spot. Unfortunately because we are very busy, most times we don’t check our children as often as our parents did. We don’t bathe.

Our children, we don’t rub cream on their bodies so we tend to miss the subtle signs and symptoms. We have had instances that it was outsiders who noticed the lumps on the body of some children who had cancer.

Are there cures for childhood cancers?

There are cures but because of lack of awareness, many children come in late and as in any other cancer, if the disease had spread even in the best of centers, you can’t do much.  In other places they have up to 80, 90 per cent cure rate but in Nigeria, we have 20 per cent cure rate. We have survivors who are doing very well. Some times, because of the cost of sickness, length of time and the side effects, some parents discontinue the treatment. We try to encourage parents to come early for treatment, we tell them about the side effects so that they can be prepared for it when it comes and also we tell them to give their children only unprocessed food. Natural foods help the treatment.

How have you been combining your career with the home front?

As of today, I only have one child left at home. When they were all still at home, we were all doing it together. Anytime I am going out to do the work, we go together. It has been God. My family members too have been supportive.

How do you normally feel when some of the children in your care survive the disease?

Great of course. There is none of them that I am not in touch with one way or the other, even when they leave the country. I get to hear about their progress and it gives me great joy that I am part of the child’s success story. When we have programmes at the centre some of them come around. They are our pride. Of course when they die, it takes a great deal out of one. For instance, I used to go with my daughter and she became very attached to some of these children. At a time, I started to separate my home life from what I do because two of the children my daughter was very attached to died and the kind of questions she asked me were not the kind of questions children should be asking. The last child that died, we just got back from America where my daughter bought some things for the girl. On getting back to Nigeria, I got a call from Lagos University Teaching Hospital   (LUTH) that the girl was dead. When I heard the news, I shouted, my knees buckled and I fell. My daughter ran to me in the kitchen where I was and asked if the girl was dead and I said yes.  Both of us were crying. After that incident, I decided that I can’t put her through it again and stopped her from following me to check on the children.

What advice do you have for parents?

Know your children’s health status so that if anything is going out of the norm, you can be quick to know and check it. It is when we don’t pay attention that we miss these things. Also, nobody knows everything so always seek medical advice and if you are not certain of what a particular doctor is saying, get a second opinion from another doctor. Don’t delay it, get your opinions fast and act fast. The earlier anybody is treated, the better for that person and the higher the success rate.   I will admonish fathers to pay attention to their children too and not leave it to the mothers alone. Yes, things are hard and we need to make money but if the people we are making that money for are no longer there, then what is the purpose of making that money? Your time is so limited with them, there is a time when they will go out of your grip so, value the time you have with your children now. Treat them as human beings not as property or toys to be played with, dropped and moved to other things.