Help Mbabazi raise Shs190m for surgery to remove a tumour

Anitah Mbabazi, a 17-year-old Senior Five student at Kitende Secondary School suffers from Schwannoma, a rare type of tumour that forms in the nervous system.

The tumour in the neck causes pain and paralysis, causing Mbabazi to lose control over her body. She cannot sit for more than 30 minutes and her right hand is becoming paralysed.

The tumour started as a pain around the neck in 2017 and when she told her mother, she was taken to hospital where x-ray results indicated there was nothing wrong. However, after three days, the pain turned into swelling.

“My mother then took me to Mulago National Referral Hospital where doctors asked that several tests be done including a biopsy. The results showed it was not cancer. I was in and out of hospital until in 2022 when the swelling was removed surgically,” she recalls.

Two months after the surgery, the swelling grew again and when she went back to Mulago Hospital, she was referred to Dr Jeffrey Otiti, an oncologist. He asked that a CT scan of the head and neck be done and then referred her to a neurosurgeon for an angiogram (angiograms can help doctors detect blood vessel abnormalities, including weakened blood vessels, plaque deposits, and blood clots. They can help doctors diagnose conditions affecting the heart, brain, arms, or legs). 

In October 2023, after several tests, doctors diagnosed Mbabazi with Schwannoma, a tumour that is exerting pressure on the vessel that supplies blood to the brain and comes from the spinal cord.

Because of the tumour, Mbabazi risks permanent paralysis from the neck. For this reason, she urgently needs surgery.  However, several hospitalisations have drained Mbabazi’s single mother financially and cannot afford the money that is needed for the surgery.

“The doctors say it is not possible for me to be treated in Uganda. I have to travel to India and need $50,000 (about Shs190m) which my mother cannot afford because she takes care of me single handedly. I am, therefore, pleading to well-wishers to help save my life so that I am able to continue with my studies,” Mbabazi pleads.

To support Mbabazi, kindly send mobile money on 0758874474 Tushabe Medius (Mbabazi’s mother) 0775542965 Zura Nalumansi (Mbabazi’s aunt) or to Equity bank account no 1010102389924 (Tushabe Medius).