• Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town says childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 14 and remains a global health issue.
• In South Africa, approximately 800 to 1 000 children are newly diagnosed with cancer every year.
• However, childhood cancer is different from adult-type cancers and responds better to chemotherapy, leading to better outcomes.

 

When Molemo was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2021 when she was only three years old, her mother, Kele Modibogo, felt helpless as she did not know anything about cancer.

Modibogo, 38, from Johannesburg, said she knew nothing about it then and thought her child was going to die.

Two years later, little Molemo, now five, beat leukaemia after undergoing treatment at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital’s Zakithi Nkosi Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Clinic.

Leukaemia is a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and lymphatic system.

According to the paediatric oncology unit at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town, childhood cancer was the leading cause of death by disease for children under the age of 14 and remained a global health issue.

In South Africa, approximately 800 to 1 000 children are newly diagnosed with cancer every year.

However, the hospital said several children with the disease were never diagnosed.

Modibogo added she started noticing something was wrong with Molemo as she coughed a lot and spent most of her time sleeping.

“She was always tired and sleeping. I took her to the local clinic, and we were only given a cough mixture.

“However, a week later, she was still coughing. I returned to the clinic, and the nurses said they suspected pneumonia,” she said.

Modibogo decided to visit another clinic, and the doctors said Molemo had water in her lungs.