Online Reporter
Muchaneta Chimuka
THE father of a 13-year-old schoolgirl, whose leg was amputated yesterday as part of her brave battle against a rare bone marrow cancer, has saluted all those who helped backroll their medical expenses.
Good Samaritans raised R20,000, which was the deposit needed for Shalom Onaja, a Nettletton Junior School pupil, to undergo surgery.
Her leg was amputated yesterday.
Her father, Joe Phiri, said his family was grateful to everyone who came on board to help his little angel.
He said those who stood in their corner included Moreboys, a South Africa-based Funeral Service Company who gave the family R5 500, an anonymous donor from the UK who gave them R5,000 and an anonymous donor from Australia who contributed R10,000.
“We still need to raise the R30,000 balance and we are still appealing for well-wishers to chip in.
“We are quite relieved that our daughter was successfully operated,” he said.
He added:
“We are also very grateful for a wheelchair donation made by Network of Caring, which is a charity arm of Network 2,1.
“Ultimately Shalom will need a prosthetic leg but a wheelchair will be helpful in the interim.”
He said Shalom was diagnosed with bone cancer in August last year in South Africa.
They initially opted for surgery in India and they mobilised US$6,500 from Nyaradzo Group, Pahushamwari Hwedu, Women in UK and the corporate world.
However, delays and additional medical expenses forced them to return to Zimbabwe and they ultimately had to consider amputation in South Africa to save her life.
The tumour had grown and she was now bedridden.
“We took her to a hospital in India where she was supposed to have surgery but the doctors there increased the amount of money required from US$6,500 to US$14,000.
“They told us that she no longer required bone salvage surgery but an implant because we had delayed in taking her to India and they had to re-do the tests, which were once done in South Africa, and most of the money we had was spent on tests and chemotherapy,’ he said.
He added:
“In South Africa, she was admitted at a smaller hospital and they were saying they were not enough beds.
“But, I thank God my daughter was operated on well and we hope for the better.
“We have other children in Zimbabwe who need to be taken care of and it’s a dilemma,” he said.
