The parents of a one-year-old girl say their worst fears came true when they took her to the doctor for flu, but she came home with a cancer diagnosis.
Yvonne, 30, and Bran-Lee Singh, 26, say three weeks ago, their baby Leah was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma (cancer in the ear).
Yvonne now wants to warn other parents not to take their children’s health for granted.
“She is the first in church before the service even starts to stand in front ready to praise and worship,” she says of Leah, who turns two in October.
“It started as flu, then she had an allergic reaction and then the ear started bleeding.
“We went to the day hospital, but they said it’s a perforated eardrum. The ear continued to bleed and in this time the tumour started growing.”
She says doctors at Red Cross Children’s Hospital referred them to Tygerberg, where they were given a cream for the ear, “but it didn’t work.”
The growth in her ear. Picture supplied
A doctor then surgically removed the growth and did a biopsy, and found it to be cancerous.
“At first it’s hard, but I had to be in mommy-mode instantly because of all the scans and testing they had to do to see if the cancer spread all over her body.
“Thank God it never did, but then last week they told me it’s an aggressive tumour and she needs radiation treatment over six weeks every day.”
Yvonne says the sudden illness hit their pockets hard and they’ve spent R8000.
“We will need all the help we can get once doctors find a solution of which treatment she needs next.”
If you would like to help little Leah, call Gail Lottering on
084 834 6262.
NEED FUNDS: Bran-Lee Singh, Yvonne and Leah. Picture supplied
venecia.america@inl.co.za