In 2015, during a medical outreach, in a community called Umuaka, in orlu Imo state
Nigeria, our attention was drawn to a young single mother called ‘Modester’, whose one-
year-old was ill and her symptoms included immense swelling in her right eyeballs. Modester
was unable to seek medical assistance for her daughter due to the absence of a primary health
center in her community and no access to tertiary and secondary health centers due to
financial constrain. The innocent child was sick for months and never received any medical
diagnoses or evaluation. We decided to assist and arranged for the little girl and her mother to
be taken to Lagos state university teaching hospital (LUTH) where she was diagnosed with a
rare type of cancer called “Retinoblastoma”. She began treatments and was in treatment for
one year. Throughout her treatment, many Nigerians assisted in raising funds to cover her
medical expenses. After a year of treatment, she was declared cancer free, began a normal life
and was enrolled into school. Unfortunately, her health relapsed in 2018 and we lost her but
that process birthed the ‘Save a life health project’. Thousands of medical child mortality in
Nigeria can be avoided if children and their caregivers had access to affordable health care
services and receive all forms of support from Government and Non-governmental
organizations. Through SAL we are providing psychologically and financially support for
one child, every year. Children who have been diagnosed with severe medical conditions or diseases, who come from low- socio and economic backgrounds. Assisting one child every
year makes a big difference. With the SAL Health project, our aim is to reduce avoidable
mortality and to bring hope to the common Nigerians.