It is every parent’s nightmare to find out their child is sick.
For Wainibuka parents Meresiana Leba and Seremaia Namanurua, their world shattered into pieces the moment their son, Orisi Ratulevu, was diagnosed with cancer after birth.
Though Ms Leba forgot what kind of cancer it was, she smiled a little bit more when she talked about how the cancer that was affecting her son’s stomach was removed.
And now, he is now playing with the other kids in the village.
“I didn’t get to see him for three weeks after I gave birth because they had taken him to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU),” Ms Leba said.
“The doctors said they had detected some sort of cyst in his stomach so they asked us if we could stay back for a few more days so that they can conduct more tests and figure out what it was.
“We were then told it was cancer.
“We spent another month in the hospital before we were told that he needed surgery to remove the cancerous cyst and the green bile that was spreading in his stomach.
“I gave my consent for him to go under the knife. I signed the permission forms and everything.
“They said they were going to ‘drain it out’ so I agreed for my baby to survive.
“I just didn’t realise that they had removed my son’s left kidney as well because I wasn’t advised.
“The doctors mentioned that they had to remove his left kidney because the green bile was affecting it.”
Orisi is now a healthy one-year-old, but with the extensive surgery he had undergone, his parents were prohibited to give him cold food or juice. He was also advised to stay warm everyday.
“He is an energetic kid, and we are blessed that the doctors were able to remove the cancer and drain everything.
“The only important thing that we were advised not to do is give him cold drinks or food, and for him to keep warm all the time.
“He is only allowed to eat greens and no meat, whether processed or not, and he’s not allowed to drink dry powdered milk as well.
“We have a strict diet, but other than that, he’s walking, talking, and communicating well like any other one-year-old.
“All the support that we had gotten when he was diagnosed was tremendous and we want to thank everyone for that.
“My mum and sister were very supportive by calling in every once in a while, to check up on him.
“They would send warm clothes and diapers so my family was really great in terms of the support we were getting.
“WOWS Kids Fiji was amazing for making sure we had our transportation, taxi fare, and money for medicine sorted.
“And they would get us groceries and that really meant a lot for us.
“We would like to thank the doctors, the families and the WOWS Kids foundation for everything they have done for us.
“We are truly blessed.”
