Stories - Candy

Candy is an 11 year old girl who I got to see four times my first week on the job. She is very shy, especially around her dad and other adults. Candy has retinoblastoma (the same cancer I described in the previous post) and it requires that we clean the wound three times a week.

Candy and her father, Kaka, are from Cote D'Ivoire (that's Ivory Coast for us Americans) which is the country directly east of Liberia. They came to Monrovia in March of 2006 seeking treatment for her cancer. Her mom and siblings remain back in the Code D'Ivoire and Candy hasn't seen them since. Here's a picture of Kaka and Candy.

Unfortunately there is no treatment but Candy won't go home and Kaka is respecting her wishes. Candy believes if she goes home, she will die. Even though she isn't getting any treatment here, she doesn't understand and it's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking to know she is away from her mom and family during her final months here. It's heartbreaking to know there is no treatment in Liberia for this cancer while almost no one dies from it in the U.S.

This is the hard part of the job. Kaka understands what is going on but he's trying to balance the hope Candy has with the harsh reality of the cancer. We could spend more time getting Candy to understand there is no treatment but what's the point - who's to say that we should take away every last bit of hope she has. If she lived in Monrovia, it would be easier but she doesn't. It's like she has to make a choice between the hope she has and spending her last months with her family. Ugh, it's horrible to think about.

She and Kaka are living in a rented room and we go to pick them up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. We take them to a local medical clinic where we can do her wound care. We play games (like Uno) or with play-doh while we wait for her pain medicine to kick in. Here's a picture of Candy with some play-doh jewelry I made for her. And you can see in this other photo that whereever we are (white people) there are children watching us!

We try to really make her feel special and love her and encourage her. On her last birthday, Jean had a birthday party for her on the ship with cake and presents and decorations. About 8 little girls from the crew came to celebrate with her.

Last Thursday, we brought her to the ship along with another 11 year old girl patient of ours, Grace, and Grace's twin sister Gloria plus the two dads, Kaka and William. Just so they could have some fun. We painted our nails and colored, ate peanut M&Ms and drank pop. Then we had lunch in the crew dining room. When the three girls were together, they talked and played and laughed. It was so great to see them smiling because they don't do a lot of that. Here are some photos from the day.

From left to right: Gloria, me, Candy, Jean, Grace.

Grace, Candy and Gloria up on Deck 7.

William (Grace/Gloria's dad), Jerry (our translator) and Kaka (Candy's dad). The men sat around and talked while we played elsewhere with the girls. Parents are generally pretty harsh with their children here (in my opinion) which is why we decided to separate the groups - the girls could play and talk without having to worry about getting in trouble. There is a huge difference between how they act around just Jean and me than when their dad's are around.

More stories to come!

Peace,

Michele