Jamila's Cancer Journey
Jamila is a smart five-year-old girl who enjoys reading her small novels in quiet places. She started complaining of headaches which disturbed her reading sessions in January 2022.
Her parents took her to a hospital close to where they live in Gombe state, Nigeria, soon after noticing her headaches became more frequent and accompanied by fever. Jamila’s father however took her to a teaching hospital several months after when he perceived no palpable change in the condition of his daughter.
It was at the teaching hospital they received the sad news of Jamila’s Ependymoma (Posterior Cranial Fossa Tumor) diagnosis in June 2022.
Being a civil servant earning the minimum wage to sustain his family, the cancer diagnosis has been a great blow to Jamila’s dad and his family who had to sell their properties and apply for numerous loans to transfer Jamila to another teaching hospital in Kano for surgical treatment.
Jamila received radiotherapy and chemotherapy sessions in Lagos. She fought a good fight, but unfortunately gained her angel wings in March 2023.