From the age of three a young boy in the village of Geita was sufferring from a cancerous leg. For seven years this brave young mans pain went on, friends and family watched helplessly as the cancer ate away his leg. The cancer was starting to spread towards the upper half of his body, as if hungry for life. The cancer showed no sign of stopping/mercy for this young boy.

Upon hearing of this case, our ground team quickly mobilised and began making arrangements for the boy. Before anyone knew for sure what the young boy had wrong with him, they took him to Geita Hospital where they kept him over night and took tests to try and discover exactly what was wrong with the young boys leg.

Upon closer inspection the Geita Hospital knew that the boys situation was a lot worse than they imagined and requested the groundteam send him to Bubkoba so that the renowned Doctor Schaeffer could assess and then operate if need be. The young boys Father who also hailed from the secluded town of Geita, atteneded the assessments and consultations with his son, giving him confidence and reassuring him the whole way. Let us take a moment to remember some of the children suffering who do not have that privelledge. The town of Geita became popular and established after a German prospector discovered gold in one of the caves near by. The town became a popular retreat for tens of thousands of prospectors who hoped to make their fame and fortune in the town. Although isolated by 90km of land between it and the next town, it has still managed to produce a rich history. This does mean that the town is a fair distance to any kind of hospital, espcially Bukoba, which is a staggering four and a half hours away.

When the Doctor saw the boy just days later he knew this was serious. He took and X-ray and ran some test but the diagnosis was as he feared, the leg was cancerous and had top be removed incase the cancer spread further up his body, causing him more pain and eventually death. After examining all the possibilities the Doctor decided to operate the next day.

The Doctor knew the procedure would not be easy as the cancer had spread right up to the hip of the young boy. He needed to make sure that the amputation was clean and sterilised after, as he had to remove all the cancerous parts in order for it not to spread. The amputation also made the Doctor aware that he will need an artificial leg, this required even more prcision when operating as he had to leave enough of a stump for an artificial limb to be attached.

After hours of surgery the leg was amputated and the boys life was saved. The Doctor took care when removing the leg as he knew if he did not leave enough room for an artificial leg the boy would have a much more dificult time recovering psychologically, physically the boy may have ended up in a wheelchair.