(Read the preceding part of this story on our timeline.)

(Part 2/5) I went back to school after my leg had been drained of fluid. For two weeks everything seemed fine until it suddenly started to deteriorate. I couldn’t walk again and my dad came to pick me up from school to head back to Lagos. We went straight to hospital where they did more tests. I couldn’t walk again.

The doctors said the first drainage that was performed on my leg was not successful and they had to drain it again. This time in comparison to the first time, it was a major drainage. They drained the blood and it was dark. It wasn’t like regular blood. I figured I was going to be fine after this. The opening for the 2nd drainage was larger and I needed to stay in Lagos for a bit because they wanted to observe me. Thankfully, we had done our continuous assessments at school so I could take time off.

I was home and it seemed like everything was going fine, but I was always in pain. At this time, I had started to use crutches because I didn’t want to put pressure on my leg. After a few weeks, I suspected that the doctor was hiding something and in hindsight I figured he knew what was wrong but didn’t know how to tell us. He said he was going to refer me to the orthopaedic hospital because he needed us to know exactly what was going on. I didn’t think anything of this.

I went to the orthopaedic hospital and at this point my knee had started to grow and the injury/opening wasn’t healing. It just started to get larger. I did a biopsy and series of tests. Dad and I went home after the tests and I just knew everything was going to be fine. I was still talking to my classmates telling them, ‘I’ll be back in school soon. I’m getting better.’ I didn’t think anything bad was going to happen.

We went back to the hospital, and we were in the doctor’s office waiting for the results. Then the doctor came into the room and said matter-of-factly, “Young lady, you have cancer. It’s malignant and I’m booking you for a surgery.”

(Read the concluding parts of this story on our timeline.)