Vusumuzi Dube
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
FREEMAN Khanye, the eight-year-old boy whose face was colonized by cancer has died. Freeman died at their homestead on Monday in Ntunjambili in Matobo where he had been bed ridden for months. He suffered from Xeroderma Pigmentosa (XP).
Reverend Bekithemba Phiri, Superintendent of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe Hillside Circuit confirmed the death.
Rev Phiri discovered Freeman last year during a pastoral visit in Matobo and saw his condition. He later returned in September this year and found him in a bad state and alerted members of the Christian Social Responsibility commission who assisted with some supplies for his upkeep.
A Sunday News crew visited the Khanye family on Tuesday last week and spoke to Ms Juliana Mahuni, Freeman’s mother who narrated her ordeal.
XP is an inherited condition characterized by an extreme sensitivity to rays from the sunlight which leads to high risk of skin cancer. These cancers occur most often on the face, lips and eyelids, they can also occur on the scalp, in the eyes and the tip of the tongue.
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