There are many heroes whose stories go untold.
Today we are featuring two heroes. A single mother going through a journey with her son.
Elam who had been a healthy baby and growing into a handsome young boy developed a small boil on the back of his left palm at two and a half years in 2021. This was followed by fever. The fever was treated with syrups and we were told that the boil would shrink. The temperature and fever stopped but the boil kept growing. This was scary and confusing so we sought further to find out what it was. We were directed to a paediatrician who advised us to do surgery at CORSU Hospital in Entebbe. I was however unable to go to Entebbe because of confusion. I couldn’t understand how a small boil now required surgery. He became so weak and he couldn’t move with his legs. Swellings started developing all over his head so we decided to go to fort portal regional referral and we were referred to Mulago national referral hospital. The distance and lack of enough information, we instead went somewhere else and here, we were advised to do a biopsy, the biopsy results indicated that Elam had lymphoma. He however became worse and this hospital also advised us to go to Mulago. When we arrived at Mulago, we were then referred to UCI. While at cancer institute tests were done afresh and he was diagnosed with leukemia and was immediately enrolled on chemo, one week after chemo, his legs regained stability and he was able to walk again.
I was a teacher and had a business but I lost both due to the time and expenses put into caring and being there for my son. It’s now two years and we do maintenance chemotherapy once a month. Being a single mother, this continues to have a stretch on me. This treatment will go on for 2 to 3 years.
This is the story as told to us by Elam’s mother.
Be someone’s hero this Hero’s Day and Join us to support Elam’s mother get back on her feet and continue this journey with her son.