Personal testimony - Abby White

Country: UK Name: Abby White Date of birth: 20th Sept 1976 Home: Oxford, UK. EMail:abby@daisyeyecancerfund.org Web site: http://www.daisyseyecancerfund.org/ My love for, and commitment to, Africa has been lifelong. My father was born in Kitale , Kenya , and raised me with an acute awareness of the warmth, beauty and fragility of the continent and its people. Through my own experience of hereditary childhood eye cancer, I have learned unique lessons about the value of life and the importance of mutual support and sustenance. In 1998 I travelled to Kisumu in Kenya to work with Rom Wandera and his dedicated colleagues at FIOH-Kenya. Mr Wandera's energy and grace was most humbling, and the extremely valuable time I spent with him served to deepen my understanding of the issues and challenges of poverty and sustainable development. Due to population distribution, 92% of children with retinoblastoma eye cancer live in less economically developed countries, where access to appropriate care and informed health professionals is limited or non-existent. While more than 95% of children survive in countries like the UK and USA , global survival is less than 20%. In 2004, I was contacted by a family in Botswana whose daughter had received a grave diagnosis of recurrent retinoblastoma. In spite of dedicated efforts to help save her life, little Rati died in August 2006, age 4.5yrs old. Her experience led to the 2004 foundation of Daisy's Eye Cancer Fund, an international organisation dedicated to advocating optimal care for all children with retinoblastoma around the world. We currently support a number of projects. These include a worldwide tumour registry which will help us gather epidemiological data and information about socio-economic factors affecting access to and completion of therapy. In Chennai , India , our support of the world's first multi-centre clinical trial of chemotherapy enables many children to access the same cutting edge therapies given to children in Canada . In 2005, I visited Nyanza Provincial Hospital in Kisumu with Rom Wandera, to see how local children with retinoblastoma are cared for. The conditions are basic, with no expertise, inconsistent supply of chemotherapy drugs, and immune compromised children sharing beds in two cramped rooms. Following this visit, we initiated "Rati's Challenge", to specifically address the challenges of caring for children with retinoblastoma in Africa . We are currently working with doctors across Kenya on he development of a national diagnosis and treatment program in the country, that will be capable of serving the wider East Africa region. We hope this will eventually become a model program that can be adapted for use in many other countries. To learn more about the signs of retinoblastoma and the work of Daisy's Eye Cancer Fund, please visit our website at www.daisyseyecancerfund.org .