Samuel has been with us for two days. He’s just 14 years old. He arrived here on Monday night a few hours after his condition suddenly deteriorated to the point that his helpless parents alerted all local doctors in the middle of the night. One of them recommended the parents take him to Kaguba. Samuel suffers from bone cancer. The cancer has already metastasized and he is becoming weaker by the day. The boy was under extreme pain. Each touch and movement caused him unimaginable pain and the only relief came from an increased dose of morphine.

He slept through most of yesterday. Today he had fruit and a decent meal. He became strong enough to want to go back home, although he’ll probably be back in a few days.

Samuel requires morphine, whose supplies are shrinking at a rapid pace – although we are still one of the last places in the area to offer it to patients. We managed to find a supplier today and bought another dozen doses – only thanks to you. The cost of one patch with a pain relief agent is 11.5 euros. Samuel will need two patches every three days. Relief in suffering for another three nights is an unbearable cost for most of our patients.

Inspired by Emmanuel, a volunteer we recently introduced you to, we’d like to encourage you to join our volunteers, to keep Samuel company, and send him positive thoughts and prayers. If you can, let Samuel know that he is not alone and support him by paying for another pain-free day at the hospice.