The second largest country of Africa, full of paradoxes. On one hand, it is rich in natural resources (including cobalt, copper, coltan, crude oil, diamonds, gold); on the other hand, its inhabitants are among the poorest in the world. For decades, the DRC has been suffering from prolonged conflicts that have led to one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world.
21.05.2024
Not every story about our patients has a happy ending. Life can be brutal. Sometimes it knocks you down for a moment. Around us, a war is raging, while we fight daily battles to save the lives of patients in our hospital. The staff did everything they could for Nema. Be with them in your thoughts today. And be proud of yourselves.
Nema was admitted to the hospital in Ntamugenga at an advanced stage of cancer. We operated on her immediately. We sent biopsy samples to Rwanda for testing and consulted experts in Tanzania and South Africa. Despite borders being closed due to armed conflict, we managed to transport Nema to Uganda. The laboratory in Kampala helped us develop a treatment plan.
Everything we did for Nema was beyond the reach of medical facilities throughout the entire North Kivu province. Oncology here is almost non-existent. Outside the provincial capital Goma and our Ntamugenga, which share the only oncologist in the province, the fight against cancer is usually doomed to failure and results in death in excruciating pain.
We didn’t save Nema, but until the very end, she felt cared for, did not suffer, and was surrounded by professionals who saw her not as just another case, but as a person deserving the utmost care.
The story of cancer treatment in the middle of a war-torn jungle is a story of never giving up. All the costs of tests, transport of samples, and care for our wonderful patient were covered by you! You are a unique group fighting for life alongside the doctors, nurses, and lab technicians at the hospital in Ntamugenga.
11.09.2024
Little Fabien needs urgent help! Congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis sounds mysterious, although it’s estimated that this anatomical defect occurs in as many as 8 in 1,000 children. For Fabien, born in the heart of the Congolese bush, this diagnosis could mean a slow death from starvation and dehydration. His mother was at a loss—her son […]
21.08.2024
A woman who loses her husband is called a widow. A child who loses their parents becomes an orphan. We have words for so many things, but there is no word for a parent who loses a child. Perhaps it’s because such a reversal of the natural order is beyond what our hearts, let alone […]
28.06.2024
When I was leaving for tests with other patients, I asked the physiotherapist to bring Dawid some juice – maybe he will wake up from this coma, maybe he will be thirsty? The news of Dawid’s passing reached Sister Agnieszka the same day. She had fought for him for many months, providing him with treatment […]