Two years after going into remission for a second time after being diagnosed with cancer at age nine, 19-year-old Kamron Hinds is in urgent need of a type of bone marrow transplant which is not available in TT.
He needs approximately $1.3 million (US$186,000) in order to receive treatment at the Apollo Hospital in India.
In a letter sent to Newsday, Kamron, of Graham Trace, Sangre Grande, said he had been struggling with leukaemia since he had been diagnosed with cancer while preparing for his SEA examinations.
“By God’s grace and my determination to fight this disease, I did chemotherapy and completed my SEA exams passing for my first-choice school, St Mary’s College (CIC).
“I am a very private person and as such neither my classmates nor my teachers knew that I had cancer. I was often absent from class spending many days at the Just Because Foundation Ward in Mt Hope. It was a very frustrating, painful, and often depressing experience but my family prayed and I persevered.
“At the age of 17, I had my first relapse, but I continued with my studies and remained focused on my exams. On a few occasions, I would have to go straight into an exam after leaving the clinic at Mt Hope. I completed my CXC exams and despite my illness, I passed seven subjects.
“I was overjoyed but this was only temporary since a routine blood test in November (2023) revealed that the cancer was back for a third time and it was very aggressive. I was devastated, just as I was about to start my journey to achieve my goal of becoming a soldier, my hopes and dreams were shattered.”
Hinds’ mother Michelle Phillip said when Kamron was initially diagnosed, she was in shock because she had only thought of cancer as an elderly person’s disease. Phillip, a single parent, cares for Kamron and his three brothers. She works as a general assistant at Homes Restaurant in Sangre Grande.
“He got sick from what we thought was the flu and the hospital did a random blood test, and that’s how we found out he had cancer. We were at Sangre Grande and then we were transferred to the JBF ward at Mt Hope," she said.
“That’s when we met Aunty Chevaughn (Joseph) [founder of the Just Because Foundation] and she brought in a 21-year-old who had had leukaemia when he was Kamron’s age at the time. We were really glad to meet him because we realised it’s something you could get over because when you think of cancer, you think of death. When he was on the ward I looked around and said I didn’t realise so many children had this sickness, I didn’t know that existed.”
Phillip said Kamron stayed on the ward for three months getting chemotherapy and was cancer-free for five years, during which time he went to CIC and then had his first relapse, which he also fought with the help of chemotherapy. She said this second relapse had been hard on him.
“He didn’t want to do the treatment, because he couldn’t see the hope in it. There was a lot of tears and disappointment on his part. I spoke to him, the doctors spoke to him, and Aunty Chevaughn spoke to him. At 1
