Esperance is only counting down to three before her eyelids close in blissful sleep. For her it will only be a few seconds, but the Ntamugenga hospital team will be fighting for her life for a long time that day.

“We haven’t seen something like this for a long time, she’s a very brave girl. Everything has gone well.” says our surgeon, smiling at Esperance’s father, who is probably taking his first deep breath of the day.

Wilms tumour is a malignant cancer of the kidney that can take up half of the abdominal cavity in a few weeks. It would seem to be a death sentence in the conditions of the Congolese jungle. Armed conflict is brewing all around, and diagnosis and treatment are expected to take months.

Yet Esperance’s father transports her through the battlefields, each time travelling more than two days one way, and it is hard not to believe that some tremendous force has been working in their favour all along. Each time they happily arrive at our hospital, where the doctors are waiting with another round of treatment.

By giving us high-fives, you have covered the costs of all the diagnostics, surgery and chemotherapy. You have also helped to provide the girl with food, money for return tickets, hygiene products and clothes. So that the little patient’s only concern was her recovery.

Today they returned to their home village so that Esperance could rest after the gruelling treatment. The prognosis is very good, but we will still perform the most necessary imaging tests to be sure. Without your help, this child would not have had the slightest chance.

Thank you that, thanks to your high-fives, we can produce so much good with you in such a remote corner of the world!