Last week, Fifth Form, Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth students cast their vote for the international charity they wanted the school to support throughout Michaelmas Term. The clear winner was World Child Cancer, for the work it carries out to address the disparity of cancer care for children across the world.
World Child Cancer’s campaigning mantra is: “We believe that every child, no matter where they are born should have equal access to the best possible treatment and care.”
Last Friday, the College’s first Mufti Day of the year took place, and the generous donations raised by students and staff totalled £1633, which will go to World Child Cancer.
We will continue to raise money to fund the diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer worldwide throughout Michaelmas Term.
Latifa’s Story, below, is just one example of the vital work carried out by the charity.
Latifa’s Story.
Latifa came from a large, loving family in Zoosali, a village in northern Ghana. She was just three years old when she developed eye cancer.
Latifa’s family first noticed that something was wrong when a white spot appeared in her eye. When traditional medicines and eye drops failed to work, Latifa’s parents took her to the eye clinic at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi where she underwent eye removal surgery.
The surgery cost Latifa’s family two months’ income, leaving them under severe financial pressure. Without enough money to pay for the chemotherapy she needed they were forced to return home. Soon after, the tumour returned. The family eventually managed to raise money for further treatment and Latifa made the 17-hour journey to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra with her mother and two siblings.
Unfortunately, the treatment came too late… but it did not have to be this way.
World Child Cancer provides support to some of the poorest and most vulnerable families in the world. By paying for treatment, we can stop more children dying from treatable diseases due to financial constrictions.
By forming partnerships between medical professionals in developed countries with those in developing countries, we can provide training for medical professionals on the early warning signs of cancer thus enabling a faster route to treating children with cancer.
Every child, much like Latifa, deserves a childhood and a future. 1300 children are expected to develop cancer each year in Ghana. Just £25 could pay for accurate diagnosis for one child with cancer, ensuring they are given the correct treatment, increasing their chances of survival.
Case study reproduced with kind permission from World Child Cancer.
