IT started out like an ear infection. But after months of treatment and trying different doctors, Nicole Cohen realised that her ten year-old daughter, Yanique Edwards, had a much bigger problem.

Late last year, Edwards was diagnosed with Lymphoepithelioma, a cancer which affects the postnasal space and spreads to the neck, brain and adjacent structures.

Now Cohen is trying to raise the $800,000 that will help her daughter to get treatment.

“She is the only child I have and I don’t have the money to save her life,” a sober Cohen told the Observer. “Since last June I have been spending a lot of money travelling between Kingston and St Mary to find out what was wrong with her.

Now that she has been diagnosed, I don’t have the $800,000 to get the radiation treatment that she needs. I have already spent all my savings.”

So far, Edwards said she has been able to raise $86,000 through community appeal. An account has been established with Scotiabank to receive donation. The account number is 801912.

“Her school (Highgate Primary and Junior High) gave us $46,000 and my church (Highgate Church of Christ) gave some. We (my sisters and I) have also been on the road begging. I just can’t sit idly by and see her die,” 25 year old Cohen said.

Her memories of the discovery of the cancer are fresh.

‘One day she came to me and said that her ear was itching. I took her to a nearby clinic and she got treatment -antibiotics and ear drops – for an ear infection. This was about June 2003,” recalled Cohen, who works as a book keeper in a stationary office.

“Two weeks later (in July) she came back to me and said that it was still itching. When I looked in her ear I saw that it was blocked up. I cleaned it but some thick black wax was coming out. I took her to the Annotto Bay hospital and she got treatment again for an ear infection,”

“But after the treatment finish it did not get any better so I took her back, but it was not improving. I carried her to a private doctor who treated her for the same thing. By now I was getting frustrated because she was losing weight, withdrawn, not eating and she was sleeping a whole lot.”

The concerned mom took her daughter to the Bustamente Hospital for Children in Kingston where she was eventually diagnosed with cancer in September. Since then, she has been between the Bustamante Hospital and the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH.)

According to the KPH, Edwards had been admitted to the hospital with ‘a right neck swelling, a bulging left eye and was found to be in painful distress.’

“She has already undergone three courses of chemotherapy with the assistance of the ENT (Ear Nose and Throat) Department of the Bustamante Hospital with good response,” the KPH said in a statement to the Observer.

“She now needs to have three dimensional conformal radiation treatment, which can only be obtained at the Radiation Oncology Centre of Jamaica. The cost of the treatment is $800,000. Any assistance towards helping this little girl with these funds would greatly be appreciated,” the statement continued.

In the meantime, Cohen is busy trying to mobilise her community for help. Both her school and her church had planned a joint walkathon to raise funds earlier this month.

According to Cohen, she was not getting any support from the child’s father.

“He is working but he is not supporting her. I took him to court this year and asked for $1,000 per week, but up to now I have not gotten anything,” said Cohen, who had gotten pregnant at 15 when she was in third form at high school.

“I could not even tell my mom when I found out. I told my sister who told her but I decided to go ahead and have her. I went back to school when she was two and I did a course in marketing and sales. I also gradually did six CXC (Caribbean Examination Council) subjects at evening class.”

“I just got through to do accounting at UWI part time. My student loan was just approved. Just as I was starting to take charge of my life this happened,” said Cohen, who said she would be postponing her studies until her daughter had recovered.

“It will have to wait because she comes first. I just want her to get the radiation treatment before it is too late,” she said.