That Poor Handwriting Of Your Child Could Be A Sign Of Cancer- Experts Reveal

Experts have warned that there is a rise in cases of cancer, especially among children in the country but also present signs of common diseases.

“Most of these cancers present as common children’s diseases. The most common is leukemia which presents as high body temperature and lack of blood and ordinarily many people would think of infections and malaria the chance of early diagnosis may be missed,” Dr. Fadhil Geriga a child cancer and blood specialist at the Uganda Cancer Institute said.

“There is also cancer of the brain which is known to be very common globally and here which presents is a very weird way like the funny handwriting of the child, convulsions, getting poor vision and poor hearing. Ordinarily, when a child has poor vision, the parents look for glasses but this may be the cancer of the eye.”

Dr.Geriga made the remarks on Saturday as he received a shs5 million cheque from Muhika Junior Schools as a donation to the Uganda Cancer Institute.

The oncologist said because children cancers present themselves as common illnesses, many times they are ignored by members of the public, parents and schools where the children spend most of their time but also by health workers, a situation that delays diagnosis.

“For example, cancer of the bones which is common in children in their teens is many times ignored. For example, it manifests after a child fell off a bicycle or while playing football and the parents will think the pain in the thigh is because of the fall but this may be the beginning of the growth of the cancer of the bone. Many realise it is the cancer of the bone when a child is already having complications wen the cancer has spread all over the body.”

“Many schools around the country are so keen on neat handwriting and whenever they see a child’s handwriting deteriorating, they think the child is just stubborn. You never know this might be cancer of the brain to the child.”

Statistics from the World Health Organisation show that by last year Uganda was expected to have 3080 children with cancer but according to Dr.Geriga, the four cancer treatment centres in the country including the Uganda Cancer Institute, Mulago, Mbarara and Lacor hospitals only received 1000 children with cancer.

The 1000 are only a third and therefore the rest are being mismanaged as common illnesses and some are dying.

Curable

The oncologist noted that despite the increase in cancer cases among children, they are highly curable if a child goes through the stages of diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and put back in the community.

“In the developed world we can talk of 90% of children getting cured but, in our setting, many times we are stagnating around 50%. That means for every 10 children we receive, five of them get cured of cancer. The public should know that whereas cancer cases among children are rising, we can ably manage them here and the child is treated and it is done free of charge,”Dr.Geriga said.

He however warned schools and parents against stigmatizing children with cancer, a situation he said psychologically tortures them and might delay their cure.

Donation

According to Edward Muhigirwa Tumuheirwe, the director of Muhika Junior Schools, the school mooted the idea of fundraising to donate to the Uganda Cancer Institute as a way of extending a happy Easter to the children’s wing at the cancer institute but also create early awareness about cancer among school going children.

“Given the current situation where cancer cases are rising and not sparing children, it became a concern to us. We decided to also participate by giving a helping hand and mooted the idea of fundraising that we did through organising a drama for the public to participate to raise funds,”Muhigirwa said.

“We did this as another way of raising awareness among children about cancer. The children need to participate in acquiring knowledge about cancer at an early stage to help them avoid, report and also got for screening. The children also need to appreciate that such diseases exist and people are suffering and get interested to know what happens in the world.”

Source: Nilepost