Alvine Kapitako
Windhoek
A 21-year-old man diagnosed with chondrosarcoma is struggling to accept his diagnosis.
Chondrosarcoma is a cancer that usually begins in the bones but can also occur in the soft tissue near the bones.
For Jazema Hengari, the cancer is afflicting his left shoulder, which is now as big as a soccer ball.
As a result of the sickness, Hengari had to drop out of school in 2015, to seek medical intervention.
Hengari initially refused treatment because he did not want to lose his arm. “I didn’t like the idea of having one arm,” Hengari said last Friday.
However, with counselling he has come to terms that the only solution will be to have an amputation because the cancer has advanced.
“The disease has affected him so badly that he attempted suicide in 2016. We encourage him by letting him watch videos of people in similar conditions just so that he knows that this is not the end,” explained Hengari’s cousin, Wilfred Kahee.
Hengari was scheduled for an operation this week but yesterday the family told New Era that they will be seeking the services of a spiritual healer in South Africa.
“We want to ask the doctor if the operation cannot be postponed so that we seek spiritual healing before undergoing the operation,” Hengari’s mother, Ingenesia Hengari explained.
Ingenesia said they noticed a swelling on Hengari’s left shoulder in 2005 but thought that it would eventually disappear.
“It started growing but it was in 2015 when it became aggressive and that is when we started seeking medical attention but at one stage he also refused treatment,” Ingenesia said.
After the operation, Hengari said he would be interested in enrolling for vocational training. “I help my father at the village with handmade chairs and I am also good at repairing electronics,” said Hengari.