Boy with huge eye needs urgent help

Weekender

By VINCENT KUMURA
ON Thursday, May 18th, I checked into the Bird of Paradise Hotel in Goroka for the night. As I flipped through my list of ‘things to do’ for the next few days on the mobile phone, my eyes fell on something so rare and painfully touching that I almost shed tears.
It was an appeal for immediate medical help for a young boy who was suffering a rare growth on his right eye. The picture from the post showed that the growth grew to occupy almost a quarter of his face.
My heart filled with sympathy for the boy as I could only imagine the excruciating pain he had to endure every day. I quickly responded to the post, giving my mobile number and soon received a call arranging for a meeting with the boy and his parents the next day.
At 8:45am the next day, the family arrived at the town bus stop, opposite the airport, where I was waiting to catch a flight to Port Moresby.
As I walked towards them, I could sense a slight degree of nervousness or some kind of uncertainty in meeting me. Nevertheless, their eyes carried a pained expression of two people harbouring an intense desperation to save a loved one from a very painful struggle.
The parents, Peter and Senti Anton were accompanied by Martin Wilson, Peter’s brother, and their local level ward councilor. Hanging from the back of his mother in a laplap was 3-year old Bongre Anton Peter. Peter is from Eastern Highlands and Senti hails from Simbu. Bongre was born on the 22nd of February, 2014. In March 2015, a little growth started on his right eye. By October that year it had grown larger and caused much pain and discomfort for the child.
Following consultations at the Goroka General Hospital, young Bongre was referred to Mt. Hagen General Hospital for further treatment but his condition continued to worsen so the family returned home. Two years have now passed and the growth is mercilessly continuing to grow bigger. The eye is an important and sensitive organ in the body and for this young child, the constant pain means unstoppable tears every waking moment.
I politely asked to see the growth, and the mother, her eyes filled with tears, carefully removes the laplap hanging from her head and tenderly lifts young Bongre out.
At close scrutiny, Bongre’s right eye was absent. The growth, about a tenth larger than the size of a tennis ball is so large that it even covers his right cheek and the right side of his nose causing a bump on the upper right forehead. Light streams of fresh blood circled the fragile surface of the growth and dry patches of blood stained his nose.
Martin said, “Mipela traim olgeta way long helpim liklik Bongre tasol nogat rot na mi sore tru so mi wokim public appeal long Facebook long husait iken helpim liklik Bongre. Na mi kisim planti gutpela sapot toktok long planti manmeri na mi tok bikpela tenkyu tru long yupela olgeta (We’ve tried every way to help little Bongre but no help came so I decided to make an appeal on Facebook.
I’ve since received many words of encouragement from people and I say thank you to all of them.)”
The thought of how a beautiful young child, who had a great future ahead, could be in in such a predicament without any form of help from the medical profession both annoyed and saddened me. It was an encounter that wreaked heartfelt pain through my body.
Bongre is the first and only child. His parents reside at West Goroka and are uneducated and unemployed. Before the growth began, Bongre was their pride and joy and it is now difficult for them to find joy with their son’s current medical condition and the many uncertainties that lay ahead.
Throughout all this misery,though, they are steadfast in their prayers every day in the hope that someone, or an organization, will come to their son’s rescue soon.
On Sunday, 21st of May, Jimmy Drekore, the President of Simbu Children’s Foundation (SCF) took young Bongre and his parents to the Kundiawa General Hospital (KGH) to seek for further medical attention.
The hospital’s pediatrician referred him to Port Moresby General Hospital for a CT scan. With gestures of kindness from individuals and organisations, the brave young boy flew into Port Moresby this week to undergo further medical tests to determine whether or not he requires surgical intervention.
Getting to Port Moresby for a CT scan is only the first step. To remove the growth completely and restore his eye sight to normalcy is indeed a steep challenge ahead and will require a lot of money, moral support and prayers.
With Martin Wilson is assisting Bongre’s parent’s create a dedicated bank account for contributions towards young Bongre’s medical needs. Should you care to help, please call Martin on 79574829 (mobile) and 5322710 (landline).
In closing, here’s something for us readers to ponder on by French-German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician and Nobel Prize winner, Albert Schweitzer. “Do something for somebody every day for which you do not get paid.”

  • Vincent Kumura is the Chairman of Kumura Foundation and is the 2016 Digicel PNG Foundation Men of Honour Community Ingenuity Awardee.