Fighting Cancer

This week we had the chance to visit Barak in the Children’s Cancer Ward at Nyanza Provencial Hospital in Kisumu. Barak is a 5 ½ year old boy from our Pre-primary class at CGA. In April our Orphan Overseer, Lillian, walked into his class and was told by the teacher that the boy is not feeling well. After giving him some water to drink she hugged him and noticed how hard his stomach was. She sent him to the local clinic that treats all of our children. The doctor gave him some medicine. Lillian was worried it was more than that and personally brought him back and talked with the doctor. They agreed he should be referred to the District Hospital in Sindo and get an ultrasound. After receiving the results they immediately took him to Kisumu for more tests. On the day we visited they found out that it was indeed cancer in his stomach. Thanks to Lillian’s quick intervention we are hopeful that it was caught in time. They will be checking his hemoglobin count and if it is high enough then they will begin his chemotherapy on June 10th and it will continue for at least six weeks or possibly much longer depending on his blood counts.

The visit was difficult but very enjoyable. He is in pain and struggling, but he is being well taken care of by the dedicated nurses and staff in the hospital. Their ward is full of children with all types of cancer. Barak used to be a very active and talkative young boy. He was visibly happy when we visited, but did not seem like his normal self. Please join us in praying for his overall health and that he will be strong enough to get his chemotherapy each week and that God would provide a total healing of the cancer in his body.