Motorbike Palliative Care: an Update
Our most effective treatment protocol for Burkitt’s lymphoma, the most common childhood cancer in sub-Saharan Africa gives a 60% one year survival. We do not abandon the 40% or more of children that we cannot cure but offer palliative care and continuing support to their parents. In October 2012 a survey of children with cancer…
Message from Dr Kouya Francine
Greetings to all friends and colleagues. I hope this finds you well. It is a great privilege for us to be part of such tremendous work, such achievement. We feel that we have offered something to the World. Because of your expertise, and your generous donations many children in the North West province of Cameroon…
Steamed up for Africa
It is not often that your hobby can do so much good. Last weekend, Dr Peter McCormick and his son, Richard exhibited their steam traction engine at the Kettering Vintage Rally & Steam Fayre. We were a late entry and had to ask very nicely to be allowed entrance and then pushed our luck further…
SAJOCAH – a new partnership?
SAJOCAH is the acronym of Saint Joseph’s Children and Adults Home. It is a Catholic Rehabilitation Centre situated at Bafut, a small town in N.W.Cameroon about 40 miles from Mbingo Baptist Hospital. About 10% of our children with Burkitt’s lymphoma present with paraplegia (weakness or full paralysis of the lower limbs) due to a tumour…
A new initiative: the Palliative Care Motorbike Nurse
Palliative care is the Cinderella service of African medicine. One reason for this is that it generates little income for the hospitals. The planners/administrators therefore tend to focus on those services that provide some financial return particularly the out-patient department. Last November our research assistant nurse at Banso Baptist Hospital, Glenn Mbah surveyed the addresses…
Breastmilk banking… again
Being long-in-the tooth, past my sell-by date, wrestling with backache and prostate symptoms, I had decided not to go to Cameroon again. Notwithstanding stout resolve, I went again on July 2nd 2013, with our two BTMAT Scholars, Rebecca and Abigail. Along with nurse Vera (who had been house guest of Alan and myself) we all…
World Child Cancer Day 2013; Dr Francine’s Report from Mbingo Baptist Hospital
We are happy to announce that our WCCD celebration was a big success here in Mbingo Baptist Hospital. We celebrated the day together with parents, survivors, and colleagues from other health facilities. T Shirts were printed for the survivors, and the message on them was ‘cancer is real and cancer can be treated’, and on…
World Child Cancer Day 2013; Nurse Glenn’s Report from Banso Baptist Hospital
We are happy to announce that our WCCD celebration was a big success here in Banso. We celebrated the day together with 3 parents, 5 survivors, and colleagues from the Catholic hospital, Shisong, and the local District Health Office. The Chief of Bureau for Kumbo West Health District was very helpful in sharing our posters…
Hello from Richard and David
Hello! We’re Richard and David, Peter McCormick’s sons. We are relatively new trustees of the charity and we have been tasked with creating and updating this website. We have put together a simple table outlining the costs for the analysis and treatment of a child with Burkitt Lymphoma in the Cameroonian hospitals where BTMAT operates.…
A recent visit…
Dr Paul Wharin and the Clinical Director of BTMAT, Prof Peter Hesseling, visit Cameroon biannually. As is their usual pattern they worked at all 3 Baptist hospitals in November and made two calls at Cameroon Baptist HQ, Nkwen, Bamenda in order to confer with Prof Pius Tih, director of the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Board…