Burkitts Lymphoma

This year is a year of pushing myself to the limit, going out of my comfort zone and learning new things.  One part of this learning process is what makes up the other half of my job aside from palliative care.  This is the Burkitts Lymphoma chemotherapy programme.

Burkitts lymphoma is a common type of childhood cancer in African children often associated with chronic malaria which reduces resistance to the Epstein Barr virus (which can cause the cell mutations associated with cancer).  For more information, go to:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkitt's_lymphoma.

As it is such a common type of cancer, quite a few children in the past were identified at the screenings but because of the lack of suitable treatment in many African countries, most of these children become palliative.  Once on chemotherapy the children often have a very good prognosis.  As a result, the Burkitts programme was set up and chemotherapy was donated to Mercy Ships.  

The aim is to equip an existing medical facility to provide the treatment themselves.  Often times, even if the expertise to give the treatment is there, the cost and lack of a regular supply of chemo is prohibitive.  So this year we are partnering with a local children's hospital to make this possible which just so happens to be at the top of the port road so is very convenient!

We oversee the programme, working with the paediatric consultant and ward nurses to effectively administer the chemotherapy, give medical advice, provide money for the children and families to get to the hospital and ensure that the children come back for the required amount of treatments (usually around 6).  It certainly requires a lot of African flexibility - sometimes the children turn up when they are supposed to, sometimes it's a few days later.  Sometimes the consultant just decides to take time off leaving us to hold everything until he returns.  I have learnt to shrug my shoulders, take a deep breath and accept the African way of doing things - all in good time.

It's certainly been a steep learning curve to be able to learn how to run everything smoothly, to give and take and to juggle with my palliative care schedule.

But it's great to be involved in something where I can say, 'Yes, we can help you' instead of 'I'm sorry, there is nothing we can do'.  To see the simple smiles of the mothers and children and hear the words of thank you.  

Sometimes the simple things are all you need.