Ghana’s Childhood Cancer Ambassador, Breanna Fosua Addai, has died after battling with the disease for the past two years.
Breanna Addai, 9, who has been advocating childhood cancers, called for a lot of interventions to be carried out for children with cancer in the country.
Some of her calls resulted in the incorporation of childhood cancers into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to relieve parents of burden as a result of the treatment of childhood cancers.
Little Breanna, made the appeal to the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, during the inauguration of the ultra-modern 54-bed hostel, built by the Rebecca Foundation for children with cancer, at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, in Accra.
Her advocacy yielded fruit when the First Lady announced inclusion of childhood cancers into the NHIS benefit package, during the launch of the second NHIS week celebration in Accra, on November 15, 2021.
The package included Burkitt Lymphoma (bone marrow cancer often found in the jaw), Wilms Tumour (cancer of the kidney), Retinoblastoma (cancer of the back of the eye) and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (cancer of the blood).
Little Breanna also called for a ceasefire during the war between Russia and Ukraine, to help save the lives of children with cancer in Ukraine.
Her call followed a news report in the international media that children suffering from cancer were under threat as they could lose their lives if the war persisted.
Little Breanna expressed concern about the impact it would have on children with cancer if authorities did not intervene, and called on world leaders to ensure the safety of children in Ukraine since their lives were in danger.
Consequently, her plea was considered as more than 20 Ukrainian children with cancer were airlifted to the United Kingdom to undergo lifesaving cancer treatment on the National Health Service (NHS).
Breanna fought a good fight to bring childhood cancers to the attention of authorities, but could not survive it due to short illness.
She passed away at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, on August 3, 2022
BY VIVIAN ARTHUR
