Pascalinah Kabi
QOALING resident, Libuseng Motšepa is appealing for financial and material assistance to enable her to access medical attention, counselling and other forms of help for eight year-old daughter who has been battling skin cancer for the past five years.
It has been a heart-rending five years for the 26-year-old Ms Motšepa in her fight to ameliorate her daughter’s debilitating condition.
Eight years ago, Ms Motšepa’s joy knew no bounds upon discovering that she was pregnant — a joy that was only surpassed by giving birth to the then healthy bundle of joy.
For the first three years of her life, Ms Motšepa said her daughter was a bubbly toddler poised to conquer the world but the lights began to dim in 2012 when she started developing dark, multiple spots on her face.
Ms Motšepa initially took the issue lightly, believing it was a case of allergies which could be fixed by medication that was prescribed by a doctor.
But the dark spots refused to go away, getting worse to a point where mother and daughter were left helpless.
“At the time we were staying in Maseru West and a certain lady asked me to take my daughter to Baylor Children’s Hospital where she worked, Ms Motšepa said, adding, the hospital could do no more than test the child for the HI virus that causes AIDS which came back negative.
She was then referred to Queen ‘Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) where a doctor administered medication for an eye-infection as her eyes had turned blue and she could no longer see.
As the condition worsened, QMMH doctors ran further tests that revealed the girl had skin cancer and was in great distress as the dark spots had turned into larger pimples.
“That was in January 2015 and I was told my daughter required urgent chemotherapy in Bloemfontein, South Africa to slow down the growth of the cancer cells.
“She was put on treatment and it ravaged her little body but I welcomed anything that could give back my daughter her life. I desperately needed the doctors to help my daughter”.
But her hope soon turned into heartbreak when the doctors bluntly told the condition could not be cured and she had to prepare for the worst.
“From that time I lost hope in the chemotherapy and vowed not to go back to Bloemfontein but to rather seek help elsewhere.
“I was depressed when doctors told me my daughter was going to die,” Ms Motšepa said.
She said her job at the offices of one of the local political parties did not give her enough to care for her ailing daughter.
“I feel helpless. I want my daughter to be like any normal child her age and I am asking anyone who might be able to help to come to our rescue,” Ms Motšepa said.
Ms Motšepa can be contacted on her mobile phone number +26657238610 and all forms of assistance are welcome to enable her daughter to access the most urgent needs of medical care, household essentials and counselling.
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