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You know in every fibre of your being what your purpose is, because it makes you sing: Interview with Andrea Whatman
Varaidzo Tagwireyi, Kubatana.net
April 24, 2012

Read Inside/Out with Andrea Whatman

What started with one woman reading stories once a week to paediatric cancer patients in the Parirenyatwa Hospital's Cancer Ward, has become a voluntary organisation, playing a pivotal role in raising funds for the treatment and psychosocial care of children suffering from cancer. Andrea Whatman is the brains and passion behind Kidzcan, and works tirelessly with a team of volunteers to help these children when they need help the most. A childhood cancer survivor herself, this woman has many dreams for the future of paediatric cancer patient care in Zimbabwe. Read on to learn more Andrea Whatman and her work.

Please begin by introducing yourself and telling us how Kidzcan was started?
I'm Andrea Whatman. I have a great husband and a twenty-year old son. The reason that I started this work was because as a little girl of ten, I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. That was in the sixties and if a child got leukemia, it was a death sentence. The doctors told my mum and dad that I only had two months to live. There were no bone marrow transplants; there was no chemo in those days. A Methodist minister called Reverend Frank Mustle used to come and visit me in hospital and pray. The two months came and went and I was still around. And my doctors, said, "Whatever you're doing, carry on doing it. We don't know what is happening here." It took nine years for me to get better. I was in hospital for 3 years, intermittently. I just believe that God had a plan in that. I think that that's the reason I'm here today.

Once I'd left hospital, I went back to school. I then went on to Art College in Durban, where I became a graphic artist, and eventually worked in advertising for 10 years as a studio manager and art director, which I loved. By then I was married, and I had been told that I would never have any children. And again God had a different plan; I had a little boy.

Then decided I wanted to give back. The thing that I remembered when I was sick in hospital was that there was no recreational fun for the kids. We used to take the syringes for our blood, and do water fights, and we used to have wheelchair races, but the matron nearly killed us. So, I thought, "What could I do for a child in hospital?" And I thought, "I'll go and read a book." And that was how it started!

Please shed a bit of light on some of the challenges that children suffering from cancer face.
One of the challenges is fear, fear of the unknown. I think children are much braver than adults. And the parents' reaction to cancer has a huge impact on the child. Speaking from experience, it's actually worse for the parents or the siblings who are watching their loved one suffer, than it is for us, as a patient who just has to trudge through it. They have much more baggage; they have bigger fears. A child definitely lives in the 'now'. And so, you'll walk into the hospital, and you'll see a child one day who's been on chemo, who's vomiting and feeling dreadful, and you'll go and say, "How are you today Tatenda?" and Tatenda will groan and say "I'm feeling sick", but the next day, he's on top of the world and he's ready to play football. So I think children feel the responsibility of their parent's suffering, as well as the physical side of it.

What is the most common type of cancer found in children in Zimbabwe?
These statistics have been taken from our Cancer Data Registry, in Zimbabwe, which is based at Parirenyatwa Hospital and compiled by Eric Chakanonga. The biggest cancer in boys is called Retinoblastoma, which occurs in the eye. It's very easy to diagnose, even by a non-medical person. It manifests as an opaque white iris. So if you see any child with this, take him/her to the hospital. We can save the child's sight, the child's eye and the child's life. The main one in girls is a thing called Wilms Tumor, which is a cancer on the kidney. At Harare Hospital, we have a paediatric operating theatre and we have numerous paediatric surgeons. And they surgically remove the tumor and then it's backed up with chemotherapy or radiation, depending on what the doctors decide.

What are the survival rates of these children?
20% of children are in the developed world, and have an 80% survival rate. So they've made huge strides in getting childhood cancer to a curable rate. However, 80% of children are in the developing world, and they only have a survival rate of 20%, which is actually a human rights outrage, as far as I am concerned. There are issues, here in the developing world, i.e. poverty, malnutrition, lack of transportation, something as simple as how far away a child is from an area of excellence, that can actually compromise a child's life.

Yours is a field involving a lot of pain and suffering for children. How do you keep yourself positive and happy, despite the pain, suffering and low survival rates?
First, I have so much to be grateful for. I've got a great life. Why shouldn't I be happy? Second, mood is very transferable. If you walk into the wards, sometimes you can feel a very heavy mood, maybe the kids have just gone through their chemo, or we've lost a little soul and we're all sad. We can divert their focus. I feel that the gift that the Kidzcan volunteers take in is joy. The women from my church often come in and we sing choruses like "Tinomurumbidza." For so many of the mothers who sit there by their children's beds, and for so many of the children, it's amazing how therapeutic singing is, and you can literally feel the atmosphere lift. To be quite honest, if I didn't believe that these children went straight to heaven, I could not do the job. I just believe that God decides what happens. I have to let go and let God take over. He has a plan.

Tell us about the work Kidzcan is doing.
We're very blessed that Parirenyatwa have given us a 25-bed paediatric oncology unit. And it's presently the only paediatric oncology area for referral. And Kidzcan has come in to support them with what they need to help the children. We don't replace the doctors. We don't tell them how to do anything. And the reason that we do this is because many of these children are rural children and come from child-headed families. Many are orphaned completely or deserted. The doctors and nurses can only do so much, but who's going to be that child's family, and make them feel great? And that's what Kidzcan does. Initially, we started by setting up the playrooms, and every single toy has been donated. The response and the amazing outpouring of love and generosity have been so exciting. At Christmas we do Christmas handouts, and I wish you could see the kids' faces. And for some of our children, unfortunately, it's their last Christmas, but if we can give them one day of joy, then we've done our job.

What are the challenges Kidzcan faces and how do you overcome them?
We don't have the drugs to actually give the child. And I think it's sad that if you are rich in Zimbabwe, and your child gets cancer, you immediately go dome to South Africa. But what happens if you are poor? Does that mean your child's life is not worth as much as a rich person's child? We also need the doctors. We need specialized paediatric oncologists. We have one in the entire nation. We've got brilliant doctors here, but they are also facing huge challenges. So what we also want to do is get some of the younger doctors to study paediatric oncology with a view to building up an area of excellence in Zimbabwe.

Any parting words of advice for women out there, who want to follow in your footsteps and do similar work?
The thing that I would say to them is just do it! Don't wait for things to be perfect. Don't wait until you've got an office. Don't wait until you've got a vehicle. Don't wait until you've got funding. Because when we started we didn't have anything. In a way we did it back to front. It was a case of, "The kids need medicine! How am I going to do it?" You don't have to be an Einstein. You have to be willing. You have to be passionate and you have to just do it. You know in every fibre of your being what your purpose is, because it makes you sing. So don't do anything, unless it makes you sing.

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