When Dhahabu Gunga gave birth to a bouncing baby girl two-and-a-half years ago, she was joyous as she expected to nurture a girl with a promising future.
Little did she expect that the arrival of Janelle Marsai to her life would lead to an endless nightmare – one that she has to be in and out of hospital for more than one year now – depleting all her financial resources and those of her parents.
At her tender age, Janelle has already undergone two delicate surgeries and six sessions of chemotherapy to treat a cancerous brain tumor at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, treatments that have cost her mother more than Sh3 million, most of it met through a bank loan.
As if that is not enough agony, oncologists at the premier national hospital have referred her to an Indian cancer treatment facility since the prescribed treatment cannot be found anywhere in Kenya or even the entire continent of Africa.
Ms. Gunga, a junior nurse at the Kilifi County Referral Hospital, urgently requires Sh10 million to take her daughter to the Apollo Cancer Centre in India to undergo proton beam radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy, money she says she does not have and is seeking help from well-wishers.
Dhahabu Gunga says she has exhausted all financial resources and is now reeling in a Sh3 million debt after Janelle underwent two brain surgeries at the Kenyatta Hospital, from where she has been referred to take her to the Apollo Cancer Centre.
Speaking to journalists in Kilifi Town on Wednesday, Ms Gunga said Janelle suffers from a high-risk large cell anaplastic variant medulablastoma and needs to undergo proton beam radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy, procedures that are not available in Africa.
Janelle has already undergone two surgeries (craniotomy) at the Kenyatta National Hospital where she also underwent six cycles of chemotherapy and doctors opine that she should be subjected to the proton beam radiation therapy within one month after the second surgery that was done on May 9, 2024.
She was required to have commenced treatment at the Indian cancer centre by May 8, 2024, but she has only raised Sh1 million out of the Sh10 million required, of which the specialist hospital requires an 80 percent deposit before treatment is started.
Ms. Gunga says she has exhausted all family resources and her health insurance limit, and that she had to take a bank loan for her child’s treatment, which has cost her, her family and friends more than Sh3 million.
“As a Kilifi County Government employee, I am insured with Britam where I have a limit of Sh2 million, but the company only paid Sh400,000 saying the disease my child is suffering from is chronic,” she said.
She said she had sought help from various organisations, including her employer through the Deputy Governor, but she was still waiting for a response.
Apollo Cancer Centre has quoted US Dollars 69,900 (about Sh9.2 million), 80 percent of which must be paid before commencement of treatment. The quotation is valid for only one month from May 21, 2024. She also has to meet her own travel costs.
She appeals to well-wishers to come to her aid, since the child’s fathers’ side was not co-operative with her and that she has been left to meet the medical costs with her family and friends.
Ms. Gunga can be contacted through Cell Phone Number +254 0701333729. She has also opened a Paybill Number 400200, Account Number 847019, Account Name Dhahabu Gunga.
By Emmanuel Masha
