Mother seeks help for 12-year-old son battling nose tumour

A 35-year-old farm worker has cried out for help over a tumour growing in her son’s left nostril and threatening his life.

Okorie said she first noticed that her 12-year-old son, Solomon, was bleeding from the affected nostril in 2019, lamenting that his condition was gradually becoming severe as he could only breathe with his right nostril.

She also said he often cried in pain, ate less often, and isolated himself.

“I had seen some children bleeding from their nostrils in the past, so I thought my son’s case was normal and would stop. It was when I saw what looked like a big boil two years ago that I realised it was serious.

“The tumour is big and it blocked his nostril. My baby cries every time. He complains to me a lot; he can’t breathe well. He is uncomfortable,” she cried.

The mother of two from Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State said Solomon was taken to the Akwa Ibom Teaching Hospital and was later diagnosed with cancer of the nose after a test at a private medical facility.

A report from a diagnostic centre, Image Diagnosis, dated October 11, 2021, sighted by City Round on Friday read, “There is a large pedunctated soft tissue mass involving the nasal cavities and the maxilla with destruction of the interior wall of nasal bones. There is a hyperostosis and deformity of the maxilla with the displacement of the nose.

“There is multiple duplication in the mass. There is complete opacification of the inner ethmoidal and spheroid and nose sinuses.”

She said a doctor told her family the tumour could be removed through an operation that would cost N650,000, an amount she said she and her husband could not raise as farm labourers.

Okorie added, “People have been mocking me over my son. Some ask me what kind of child I had. We had spent N110,000 on drugs and tests before we were told that the tumour would not be suppressed with drugs. A doctor said it was cancer of the nose.

“We were able to raise N100,000 from the little money we earn when we work on people’s farms. We harvest cassava and remove weed. I earn N700 per day but it is not enough. My husband earns N1,000 when he gets a farm job which doesn’t come all the time. I am begging Nigerians to, please, help me and my baby so he can undergo the operation.”

Donations can be sent to the family through account name: Okorie Bright, account number: 6016719763 and bank: Keystone Bank. (Saturday PUNCH)