AFTER watching his young son ailing for months without knowing the reasons, Kemar Seivwright’s worst fears came true when he was told late last year that his youngest child, Rojief, has cancer.

The two-year-old was recently diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which is a cancer known to affect small children.

Seivwright, who is a veteran of the Jamaica Premier League, explained the challenges his son has had to go through in the past few months.

“He is currently diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which is at stage four, and it is a very aggressive cancer. It is spreading to various parts of his body such as his brain, it has lodged behind his eyes [which] caused them to bulge.

“There are numerous amounts of lumps to the right side of his head and his neck, and it has also caused his head to expand in size,” he told the Jamaica Observer recently.

Rojief has been experiencing a lot of pain for weeks but received some amount of relief after being given chemotherapy to help fight the cancer at Bustamante Hospital for Children.

“They applied a little chemotherapy and it slowed the spread of the cancer but it’s over almost his entire body including his tummy, his chest, his groin, his arms – pretty much everywhere on his body,” said Seivwright.

The footballer, who hails from Yallahs in St Thomas, explained how he came to discover that his son was suffering from the very aggressive cancer.

“One evening I went home and saw this thing on his ears and because of the aggression of the cancer, after a few days it was just a big lymph node on his neck, so I had to rush him to the hospital.

“He was admitted for about three weeks at Princess Margaret Hospital and they told me that they suspected that it was cancer. After running some tests they sent him to Bustamante Hospital for Children and the specialist diagnosed him,” Seivwright recalled.

Rojief was recently released from hospital after receiving chemotherapy treatment and is not in as much pain as before, but the trauma of the whole ordeal is starting to take a toll on his family, especially his mother Melissa.

“It’s not easy but I have to be the backbone, the one that moves around and gets things done, because his mom’s pressure is constantly high and that’s a threat as well, because [high blood pressure] does take lives.

“When she goes to the hospital to visit him, she keeps breaking down a lot and this is why her pressure isn’t going down. She is always overthinking, she is overreacting most of the time, always crying – those are the reasons why it is always going up,” the Molynes United centre half revealed.

While chemotherapy has helped to relieve the situation for Rojief temporarily, proper treatment for his condition can only be accessed overseas, an expensive proposition that neither Kemar nor his family can afford on their own.

“The hospital gave him the chemotherapy for free but for any other treatment that he has to do, I have to fund it.

“I have already started a GoFundMe page. It’s just to accumulate some funds to get him overseas to do his process of cure treatment.

“St Jude’s isn’t taking in any patients at the moment because of the pandemic so I contacted Memorial Sloan hospital, and they are now awaiting the medical report from the doctors to give me a date when I should dispatch with him,” Seivwright explained.

The father is awaiting a medical report from Bustamante Hospital to send overseas but while he is doing so, Seivwright is also pondering how to raise the funds required for travel, accommodation and treatment.

“Memorial Sloan needs to know what exactly they are dealing with and know how urgent it is to get him there.

“There are a lot of people before me because there are a few kids there with cancer as well, so it can be a case that people are in front of me waiting on medical reports as well. I need money for the treatment costs overseas and for the cost of travel,” he noted.

And even as the situation with the playing of the Premier League remains up in the air, Seivwright is aware that should the season go ahead, he may end up missing it because of the need to travel with Rojief for his treatment overseas.

“My Premier League season could be affected by my need to go with him overseas,” he acknowledged.

Thankfully, the club is aware of the situation and has been providing support to the family, Seivwright said.

“The club is pretty much aware of everything that has been taking place. His [Rojief] eyes were getting bad and he needed tested glasses, and the club purchased the glasses for him.”

Seivwright also revealed that he, too, has suffered health problems as he navigates this difficult situation in the life of his family and his baby boy.

“Most of the time it is very hard for me to come to training because my pressure sometimes goes up[from] just thinking about the situation and the condition that he is in,” he shared.

The 31-year-old father of four is struggling to come to grips with the pain and suffering of his youngest child and is appealing for financial support in order to save his life.

“Anything at all that you can donate or offer, I would very much appreciate it,” he pleaded.

The GoFundMe account information for Rojief is: gf.me/u/zhphrc