Hello friends,
I’m writing at long last with an update about Mphatso, the young Mozambican boy who you have supported so generously to get healthcare attention for his large facial tumor.
The short summary is that Mphatso has gotten several more surgeries and procedures done since that first surgery in March, and he is doing well! However, the progress and the timeline has been slow. It’s proving to be a very complicated tumor to treat, requiring many surgeries with healing times in between. Despite the long timeline, the treatment has been positive and is continuing on. For the first time in his life, Mphatso and his family are accessing consistent and ongoing excellent medical attention!
Mphatso has been in the hospital for over a month now, as he got an infection after his last major surgery in November. He will be getting another surgery done this week to close the skin flap on his head, now that the infection has cleared. Unfortunately he and his mother will need to spend Christmas in the hospital.
With the many long trips back and forth between Northern Mozambique and Malawi and this long recent hospital stay, we have used the majority of the funds raised so far. The fuel crisis in Malawi, and the recent devaluation of their currency, the Kwacha, has also made transportation more expensive.
We are therefore trying to reach a new goal of $3,000 for transportation, food, and support for the next surgeries in the coming 6-12 months. I have opened up a new Facebook fundraiser for this goal. If you are able, please consider supporting this continuing journey for Mphatso and his family. I know Mphatso and his family are immensely grateful for your help! Thank you!
For a more detailed account of the last 9 months, continue reading on below.
I have been in contact with our partners at Access Health Africa almost weekly this whole time. Malawi-based coordinator Angela, Malawian Nurse Christina, and US-based Karen have been very engaged to make sure Mphatso is continuing along his course of surgical care and that his family is always informed and supported. For me, and I believe for others involved, it’s been many months of updating our expectations and adapting to the slowly unfolding plan.
Some facial tumors that have other causes can be treated in one surgery that radically changes that person’s life forever. Mphatso’s situation is so different, so there are unfortunately no magic bullets.
Mphatso had his first surgery in March to address the AVM - arteriovenous malformations – his tumor that was created from blood vessels forming incorrectly. The surgery took place at the Mercy James Center for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive care in Malawi and went well. The expectation was that Mphatso would return home and that the swelling would go down somewhat after that surgery. Nurse Christina remained in contact with Mphatso, his dad Alick, and his mom Aida and visited them in northern Mozambique in April, one month after the surgery. Christina reported that the swelling had subsided slightly under his chin and around the mouth on the side where the blood vessel was closed. (However, it isn’t very evident from the pictures, as you will see from that trip below.)
After that first surgery, progress slowed down for many months. Mphatso traveled back to Malawi with his mom to get some updated scans, but Dr. Borgstein wanted to review the scans with AVM specialists in Amsterdam before moving ahead with another surgery. There were months of delays in getting feedback from the medical team, then doctor’s took some much needed vacations, and then there were difficulties getting responses from the medical team. Angel and Christina were persistent in their outreach to the team, and kept Mphatso’s family in the loop.
Finally things picked up again in November. Mphatso had sclerotherapy done in the hospital - injections done under anesthesia that reduce the blood supply to the tumor. Mphatso then had a major surgery on November 16th to address the tumor on the side of Mphatso’s head; while this part of the tumor wasn’t as apparent as the large part in his cheek, it was also substantial. My understanding is that several surgeons were involved. As the tumor was very vascular, as they had suspected, the bleeding was difficult to control and they needed to stop part way through. Mphatso was in the ICU afterwards, as they had planned, in order to make sure the bleeding did not resume before waking him up. They said the treatment of the large cheek portion of the tumor will need to be done at a later time. Mphatso has been in the hospital for 5 weeks straight now, first with his dad, and then with his mom.
For those who interested in learning more about Mphatso’s family and Nurse Christina’s trip to Northern Mozambique in April, read on below. Pictures of that trip:
It was helpful for Christina to visit Mphatso’s family in order to get a sense of what his life and village are like, and the difficulties they face when traveling for medical care in Malawi. The months of rainy season each year also make the trip difficult, as sometimes rivers will flood and become impassable.
Mphatso’s family moved to their mountain bush location in Tete, Mozambique 9 years ago. They were in search of cultivatable land when land became scarce in their home village in Malawi. Culturally most of the residents in this area are also from Malawi and came for the same reasons. Mozambique Chiefs gave undeveloped land in the hopes of developing their chiefdoms with productive residents.
The land is very fertile where they are in Tete, so they definitely found what they were looking for. They still have hopes of a better life, as they are struggling with the other issues like the lack of medical care, better education, and other resources in the area. There is no real grocery or trading center in this rural region, and the school is bare bones.
Aida, Mphatos’ mom, was able to get her broken phone fixed while in Malawi with the funds we raised, and now has minutes to use. This has made ongoing communication between the health care coordinators and the family feasible. They have a small solar panel for charging. Mphatso is able to help his mom use the phone now!
Thanks so much for all you have done to get this far with Mphatso’s treatment! If you are able to continue your support, please visit the Facebook Fundraiser page here.
-Ali, the connector & advocate