Dziwitsani Elisa

Dziwitsani Elisa is a 14 year old boy who lives with his parents and two siblings in Mponela which is quite close to Lilongwe. Both his father and mother are farmers who sell crops to earn a living. Dziwitsani wants to be a farmer like his dad when he grows up.

In 2020 Dziwitsani noticed a small wound on his right toe. Unfortunately, it was getting bigger rather than healing. When he then started to have frequent fevers, his father brought him to KCH where he was diagnosed with cancer and admitted to the cancer centre there. The cancer was spreading and so, as well as treating Dziwitsani with chemotherapy, the doctors amputated his right leg through the femur.

From the cancer centre, Dzitwitsani was referred to 500 miles for a trans-femoral prosthesis. We taught him some exercises in preparation for the prosthesis and he was then given an appointment for a cast of his stump to be taken. A week later, Dzitwsani received his above-knee prosthesis.

Dziwitsani was very happy to see that he was able to stand on both of his feet – and walk! You can see Dziwitsani’s progress from walking between bars, to walking with two crutches and then just one crutch in the short video on our YouTube channel. Dziwtsani said now he looks like all his friends again. His father celebrated because he had hope for his son’s future again.

In accordance with our charging policy, we asked Dwiwitsni’s father if the family could make a contribution to the cost of the leg, but when he explained that they had spent their savings on traveling between their home and KCH for all of Dziwtitsani’s treatment, we agreed that Dziwitsani could be assisted by One Smile.