A long road: Zarah’s story

At the end of each year, 18-year-olds across the country excitedly leave their school careers behind them and step into their adult lives, filled with dreams, aspirations, and goals for their futures. This year, one 18-year-old girl looks on as her peers reach this milestone, which has remained just out of her reach. Zarah has been battling cancer for just shy of four years, and while she is determined not to give in, her life has been forever changed.

She was first diagnosed in 2021, and after five months of treatment and being in and out of the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, she and her family were delighted to receive the news that she was cancer-free; at last, life could go on. After an all-too-brief 10-month reprieve, though, the cancer returned. For the past two years, she has been receiving weekly treatments.

“It’s had its ups and downs,” she says, reflecting on her journey thus far. “I thought I was going to die at one point because it got so crazy. But I had lots of support through everything, so I managed to get through.”

The treatment got in the way of the life Zarah had imagined for herself. “It affected my schooling a lot because I had to repeat grade 8, so I would have been done now. It pushed me back a lot because I couldn’t concentrate on exams because of the treatments and how they made me feel.” Zarah smiles shyly, but her eyes betray her disappointment. “I like to play basketball, but I had to give that up, too, because of the treatment.” If everything goes according to plan, she will be writing her matric in 2025.

This week, Zarah is going for an important test to find out whether the treatment has eradicated all of the cancerous cells, which would mean she is in remission. After all she has been through, she’s afraid to look too far into the future; afraid to be disappointed yet again. “I hope it’s all going to go away. I hope this is the last. Then I can focus on my career choices, my schooling, and university because that’s a priority. My health is, too, but I hope this is the end.”

No child should receive a cancer diagnosis; no parent should have to walk that road with their child. For those who do, though, the emotional and physical burden is often compounded by the financial burden of the many trips to the hospital that can make holding down a job challenging and the costs associated with treatment. Thanks to you, our donors, the Oncology subproject of the Family Care Project run by the Children’s Hospital Trust can ease some of this burden for the most vulnerable patients and their families. Zarah’s family has received food vouchers, but the project also supplies clothing and transport assistance to families in need. Together, we can make these families feel a little less alone.