Hari*, Aged 3, Nepal

Three-year-old Hari lives with his family in Nepal. He was diagnosed with blood cancer earlier in 2022.

Hari’s parents were concerned about the affordability of proceeding with treatment. Found out how the support of the UK Government and supporters like yourself are helping families like Hari’s to receive life-changing cancer care and treatment.

Coming from one of the world’s most politically marginalised communities, Hari*’s mother Kamala* had to make one of the most difficult decisions of her life – to decide whether to stay home or go for treatment after learning that her son had blood cancer when they were referred to Kanti Children’s Hospital.

Knowing that a family member is sick is a total nightmare. My baby had severe fever and swelling in the neck for a while, I then came to find out that my child had blood cancer. It was heart-breaking, I cried for almost a week. I couldn’t understand how this happened to me.

Hari, now almost four years old, was admitted to hospital in March 2022. After suffering from a fever and neck swelling, he was taken to the district doctor. Hari received treatment there, but it didn’t help – his condition worsened. The district doctor referred him to Kanti Children’s Hospital in Kathmandu, over 200km away from Hari’s hometown of Dhanusa. Hari’s family made the decision to receive treatment for Hari’s blood cancer in Kathmandu, although it hasn’t been easy.

Kamala’s husband, Hari’s father, works as a labourer in Saudi Arabia yet has not received his earnings due to corporate fraud. He is still in Saudi Arabia now and it was therefore up to Kamala to raise the much-needed funds for Hari’s treatment. Kamala, a member of the extremely disadvantaged Musahar community, has only been able to work low-income jobs throughout her life. Along with the doctors and nurses at Kanti Children’s Hospital, through World Child Cancer’s three-year project, ‘Closing the Cancer Gap’, which was match funded by the UK Government and supporters like yourself, we are happy to share that Hari is receiving the cancer care and treatment that he so desperately needs, and there has been a definite improvement in his condition.

“He is doing well, and we are very hopeful that his treatment will be successful. Childhood cancer is curable, and you should not lose hope.”

Despite the financial difficulties that have arisen, Kamala is grateful that they decided to treat the cancer at Kanti Children’s Hospital – she believes that Hari may not be here today if it wasn’t for this.

“I think we could not have made it here today [without support]. We are very lucky that we came here to get treatment.”

Hari enjoys playing in the hospital playroom with other children, just like he enjoyed playing in the mud with his friends back in Dhanusa. When he gets older, Kamala hopes to send him to school so he can study hard like the doctors at the hospital.

*Names changed to protect identities

Hearing the news that your child has cancer is devastating. With your help, World Child Cancer is able to provide financial and emotional support to children and their families at diagnosis and beyond, to limit the damage cancer causes.