Not Giving Up: Mum shares son’s leukaemia battle

A mother from Naimalavau village in Nakelo, Tailevu remains strong for her five-year-old son, who is now in kindergarten despite doctors placing him under palliative care for leukaemia.

Senimilika Nakaivalu’s son Amori Tuisovivi was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was one year and six months old and has been under palliative care since then.

“Right now the hospital has given up on us. There’s no more chemo and we’re under palliative care,” she said at the National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month launch in Suva yesterday.

“Palliative care means there’s no more chemo for us. We’re just left there for you to go, to die.”

Despite the grim prognosis, Ms Nakaivalu said Amori is now attending kindergarten and she continues to provide him with the best care possible.

“For me, he is the priority apart from the other kids because we’ve been told that he won’t be with us for a long time.

“So I have to spend most of my time with him to provide him the best that he needs,” she said.

Ms Nakaivalu quit her job to become Amori’s full-time caregiver when he was diagnosed.

“My journey with him as a mum, I have to leave everything behind. I don’t work anymore. He needs me every day, not only for cooking but in terms of needing my support,” she said.

She said the early warning signs were vomiting and coughing before doctors at CWM Children’s Ward discovered through blood tests that he had leukaemia.