Half the eyesight but double the heart – Morgan’s story

15 February officially marked International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day, so for the entire month, Cupcakes of HOPE has been spreading awareness and recruiting new cupcake angels for their #BakeADifference Campaign.

One of the children who was selected to be featured on the organisation’s campaign posters was Oboitshepo Morgan Leshomo, a 12-year-old boy from Kagiso who lost his eye to cancer as a toddler.

Morgan’s mother, Selina, first became concerned about her son’s health when he was three years old and was struggling to walk. “I know when babies first start to walk, they will be wobbly, but when he was three and still couldn’t keep his balance, I became worried,” she said. She then started to notice that there was something wrong with one of her son’s eyelids, saying that it looked strange in comparison to the other.

She took her son to a local clinic and was referred to Leratong Hospital, which then referred her to St Johns Eye Hospital located inside Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. It was not long after this that Selina was notified of Morgan’s diagnosis – Retinoblastoma.

Specialists informed the worried mother that the cancer was too severe to conduct chemotherapy, and his eye needed to be removed as a matter of urgency. Selina described the fear she felt, saying that she didn’t know what to think, but for the sake of her son’s life, she knew that she should agree with the doctors and allow them to conduct the procedure. If the eye was not removed, there was a good chance that the cancer would spread to Morgan’s other eye and then his brain, which could have had serious consequences. “I knew if it spread to his brain he would be alive physically, but he would still be dead,” she continued.

Morgan was lucky in the fact that his cancer only manifested in his eye, so after the removal surgery, there were no cancer cells left and he therefore didn’t need to undergo any chemotherapy or laser treatments following the procedure. Since his surgery, he has received yearly scans to ensure that the cancer hasn’t resurfaced, and thankfully it has not.

The young boy received his first prosthetic eye from St Johns Eye Hospital but the older he got, the more uncomfortable the prosthetic became. This is not only due to the fact that as a child grows, their prosthetic eye needs to be built up and then replaced every five years, but also because in some hospitals the prosthetic eyes are not made specifically for each person. Lori-Ann Hill from Cupcakes of HOPE stated that there are usually a few prosthetic eyes on hand and the hospital then chooses one that they think will work the best. They often do not fit correctly and land up scratching the inside of the eye socket, which is extremely uncomfortable.

Selena works as a domestic worker in Helderkruin, so she knew she would not be able to afford a new prosthetic for her son as they cost between R20 000 and R30 000 to make. The family Selena works for then made contact with Cupcakes of HOPE in an attempt to get assistance with Morgan’s new prosthetic.

Lori-Ann met Morgan for the first time in October 2020 and after eight consultations, on 1 December, the day of the #BakeADifference photoshoot, Morgan received his new prosthetic eye made specifically for him by Eyes Alive.

“I don’t have words to describe how grateful I am. I was so happy when Cupcakes of HOPE said they would help. I don’t know who would have helped my son if I didn’t meet them,” Selina said with a smile. “I want to encourage people to make cupcakes so that this organisation can continue to help children like my son and continue with the work they do,” she concluded.

Morgan started Grade 7 this year and is an intelligent, happy and energetic young pre-teen who loves soccer and watching movies, and with his new, barely noticeable prosthetic, he is even more confident than he already was.