Old Harbour woman battling rare cancer that affects three in every million people

The future flashes brightly with lots of hope and aspirations for both newborn and first-time mom, who worked as a customer care representative at a call centre. Morris, who resides in Lloyd’s Pen, a tiny community here in southwest St Catherine, haboured big dreams of being there every step of the way for her daughter. Baby Suriyah has made more than a few steps since then, as she now sprints around the home without fear of hurting herself. But while the three-old is making rapid strides in her development, mom Lisa has taken a devastating turn.

In August of last year, Morris began experiencing a toothache with one of her incisors. An abcess had also developed around the aching area and after visiting the dentist, she was advised of seeing a specialist. The periodontist was more than willing but the cost offered to perform the surgery was in excess of $300,000, a price that Cynthia Henriques, Morris’ mom, said they could not afford.

The family had no choice but to go to the state’s public health facility, more specifically Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), one of the most equipped of its kind in the Caribbean. At KPH, though, persons like Morris are placed on a waiting list. It’s a situation that Morris cannot wait as time is of essence, her pain becoming more intense by the day. Tissue samples were subsequently removed for a biopsy. This took more than a month before the result came back, at which time the pain had become more severe and the gum swollen larger than before.  But more worryingly for Morris and the family the results came back inconclusive.

“At the time mi couldn’t come up with all of that money. So I said I’m going to take her to KPH (Kingston Public Hospital),” Henriques tells Old Harbour News in an exclusive interview.

“When we went there to get the result there was no result. Another doctor came in the room and hear the conversation and said the only way to get the result quickly is to send it overseas.

“So we sent it overseas to get it [the test] done and it take another month again. So she was in there [the hospital] for another two months in pain.”

When the result came back, it dealt a devastating blow to the family. The diagnosis: Morris had Merkle cell carcinoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer more common among Caucasians over 50 years old that occurs in three per every one million people.

At the turn of the new year, Morris underwent surgery at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) to remove the tumor and received her first round a radiotherapy a week ago. On the weekend she was discharged from the hospital which had become a care home since she did the surgery some seven weeks ago. That period has been one of the most testing time in the life of Henriques, who operates a small grocery shop inside the yard at Lloyd’s Pen, situated four miles southeast of Old Harbour town.

The mother of four, of which Morris is the youngest, said they had to be resolute and resilient for her ailing daughter who is adored by everyone who got the chance to know her. Morris’ siblings have been heartbroken by the pain and suffering, which takes an emotional toll on them, Henriques said. They organize two fundraisers – a cookout and a cake sale – with all proceeds going towards paying Morris’ medical bills among other expenses. It has been an expensive ordeal so far but one that Henriques is willing to battle for however long.

“Every day it cost me,” she said with a deep sigh of frustration. “It’s really difficult because Saturday I had to find JMD$85,000 to buy the things that they told me to get for her. Because they said they have to move the tube out of her mouth – because it in there from she do the operation.”

“I have to have money to buy medication and whatever other stuff they require of me to buy for her. It’s really hard on me,” she added, while noting she visited her daughter at the hospital three times per week which comes at a cost of roughly $20,000 per trip.

Given the severe nature and rarity of the cancer, a customized treatment is advised. However, this comes at a cost in excess of JMD$2 million privately.

Dr. Kurt Waul of Cumberland Medical in Spanish Town reviewed Morris’s case and offered a sobering prognosis.

“Based on what I'm seeing there, it has not spread to any distant structures but it has gone to some of her lymph nodes and it has also invaded her maxillary sinus. So, it's very bad as it is right now,” Dr Waul stated upon reviewing the medical report.

“Based on what the mom is telling me is that she will require radiation and the type of radiation she will need, I think they are telling her that she has to pay probably a million dollars to get the type of radiation that she needs which may not be accessible, easily accessible through the government system, because I think they have a very long waiting list. So, you know, that is it really. She's in bad shape based on what I've seen here because they have removed some of her nasal bones.

“They have removed areas of her cheek. So, it's a very extensive operation and also based on what I'm seeing that they did not remove the tumor in its entirety. There was one margin of the section that they took out which was showing that the tumor butted on that section that they cut.

“All the other margins are free but there's one particular margin of the resection that they did that the tumor is touching onto it which may be a sign that the tumor has gone beyond what they removed. So, you know, she's in a very serious condition right now basically. You know, the five-year survival rate for something like what she has would be probably in the region of less than 50 percent.

“So, she has a 50 percent chance of surviving for the next five years really.”

To further compound the woes of the family, Henriques told Old Harbour News that since her daughter’s release from hospital she must now find over $400,000 within the next seven days to continue her course of treatment. And for every treatment that she misses reduces further her chance of surviving.

Between August and now, this aggressively metastasizing legion has already taken a significant physical toll on Morris. Her face has been disfigured, and her speech has been severely affected, leaving her able to communicate only through texting. Suriyah hasn’t seen her mom as yet though since surgery and recently told her grandmother that “the doctors fixing mommy but they taking too long” it is something that will be a challenge for Suriyah who must adapt to a new way of life as it relates to bonding again with her mother. At some point both mom and daughter will reunite as the image of Suriyah represents hope for Morris, though faint it may be.

“She’s so kind and loving,” Henriques said of her last child. “Honestly I didn’t know that so many people love her. Even the nurses at the hospital, they love her so much.”

Those wishing to support Lisa Morris and her family can contact Cynthia Henriques at 876 506 7518.