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| Sunday, 26 October 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Seeing is believing : The plight of little innocents and grieving parents by Shanika Sriyananda
I closed my eyes to drive them out of my mind. But... no, they are haunting me even now. A group of bouncy tiny tots. Innocent and battling with a 'big' illness. With bald heads, all hair gone due to medicine and saline drips plastered on to their little hands, their sleepy sick eyes ask only one question: "Why us? We are too small to bear the pain..." Little, but some are brave enough to ignore the severe aches and pains. Bearing it with childish faith that it will soon pass away, they play with toys that they were gifted by kind-hearted uncles and aunts. "Budu saduta malak thiya"... (I wish and offer a flower to the Buddha) a melodious voice was coming from other corner of the room. We peeped in. Little Kanchana was singing her favourite song forgetting her pain. One cannot imagine she is suffering from a fatal illness, Cancer.
The 'Sunday Observer' visited the little victims at the Paediatric Oncology Unit of the Maharagama Cancer Hospital, last week. Two and half-year-old Kanchana, fair but pale like a fallen white flower was with her mother. She hails from a remote village in Matugama and her mother stayed with her in the hospital for the last two months leaving her elder brother with the grandmother. Suffering from leukaemia. She was diagnosed two months ago and her hair keeps falling now due to the toxicity of medicine. Chamuditha Sudusinghe (4) cannot stand on his own. His stomach is swollen after an operation. His hands and legs have become bony. He wears a sweet innocent smile, which one cannot ever forget, and bright eyes show a ray of hope that he can play with his friends at the pre-school once again. Chamuditha's mother, a teacher of Galagama Primary School, has been staying with him since June. Suffering from nuroblasoma the baby was first admitted to Matara then transferred to Karapitiya and operated on at the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital.
Rajith Neranjan's parents took him from one doctor to another. The medicine did not answer. Finally, they brought him to the Cancer hospital. A leukaemia victim and a year-3 student of St. Theresa Junior School, he was one of the bright students in class. "My son is little better now. It is a miracle. He is eating food now", said Rajith's father who fights to bring him up like a normal kid. "I want to be a teacher", five-years-old Mali told me. There was a pin-drop silence. Her young aunt, who was looking after her till her mother arrived, tried to laugh with tears trickling down her face. Mali hugged her teddy bear happily. The hospital is not a strange place to some of them. They come here for treatment and spend a few months and then go back to school. The greatest difficulty for them is travelling from rural villages to Colombo. But they have no choice. The hospital gives priority to these child cancer victims. Ranging from medicine to toys, they have every thing. Kind hearted 'strangers' try to give them the feeling that they are not isolated and 'there are people to take care of them". The Unit caters to 80 patients and mothers are allowed to stay with these children.
"Mee sellam badu walin mama godak satutu vuna. Oyalath mewawalin sathutu wenna" - Suhel. (I played with these toys. I was very happy. Play with them and be happy), is the heart wrenching message on the picture placed on a small table inside the play room at the Unit. Baby Suhel died of leukaemia a few years back. His toys and the TV he used were gifted to the hospital. His parents built a small room to keep these toys. That was the beginning of the play room. Today with generous help from the Overseas School of Colombo children have a modern play area with nice toys and computers. A montessori is being held for these children in the play house. Madari Buddhika, their teacher said that though these children were ill they were very talented. "Children who come for daily clinics also come to the montessori", she said. Some children are still mischievous, unaware that they soon have to bid good-bye to their parents and the little ones they play with in the ward. The only request every parent made from us was to pray for their babies to ' get well soon'. Dr. Aruna Wijeratne, Medical officer of the Unit said that the majority of these babies were from very poor families and also from very remote villages in Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Galle, Kandy, Matale and Badulla districts. They suffer from leukaemia and lymphoma. According to Dr. Wijeratne children's wards get priority for donations. "Every day they get some kind of a donation. But, sometimes drugs are a problem. The perfect donation for these tiny tots is drugs when the hospital is short of drugs", he said. According to Dr. Yasantha Ariyaratne, Director of the Cancer Institute, leukaemia usually occurs from one year to six years. " That is the peak period. We cannot assure full expectation of life. Half way through they might die of the disease. It is a rare disease when compared to other diseases like diarrhoea. It affects only three to four percent of all cancer patients. But when it comes to children, two thirds are leukaemia patients", he said. Commenting on food he said the hospital is careful to serve quality meals making a balanced diet under the recommendation of the hospital diet steward. "Food here is much better than at other hospitals. I usually check the food from each pot". Dr. Ariyaratne cautioned the donors to be extra vigilant when offering food to children. According to him ice-cream, yoghurt, short-eats, sweets and milk packets are bad for these children as they could catch infections easily due to germs. Coloured pencils, games and story books are the most valuable gifts that one can give. " Then they can play and study in bed", said Dr. Ariyaratne. It is sad to note that some donors are trying to take advantages from these babies, said an officer of the Unit. People disguised as donors try to convert Buddhist children and their parents to a particular religion. It is time to take legal action against them to stop this unethical conversion.However, to the parents, they are still precious gifts from God. Spending their last cent, they try to keep the children alive. Every parent whose child suffers from cancer lives a life of tears, a nightmare they cannot escape. But they prefer to dream of a tomorrow when their tots will play hide and seek in the garden and read books and sing nursery rhymes just like other children. |
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