By Tamlyn Canham
Phumeza Mdabe has shared an update on her son’s battle with eye cancer.
The actress took to Twitter to reveal that Mpilo will be getting new prosthetic eyes fitted soon.
He has had to change his prosthetic eyes annually, but Phumeza says it never gets easier.
“Mpilo is getting new prosthetic eyes fitted soon. He screamed and said, ‘I’m gonna see like everyone else’. I had to explain that he will never have vision again while a lump sat in my throat and trying my best for him not to hear me crying. This journey isn’t easy at all,” she tweeted.
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Mpilo is getting new prosthetic eyes fitted soon, he screamed and said , I’m gonna see like everyone else💔💔I had to explain that he will never have vision again while a lump sat in my throat and trying my best for him not to hear me crying😭😭 This journey isn’t easy at all.
— Phumeza Mdabe (@PhumezaShoba) April 23, 2021
Rare eye cancer
Mpilo was diagnosed with a rare form of eye cancer in December 2014.
Phumeza and her husband, Mnqobi ‘Shota’ Mdabe, got the sad news that he had bilateral retinoblastoma a few days before Christmas.
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They noticed that he had abnormally dark pupils when he was a baby, but they never imagined he had cancer.
In 2015, doctors were forced to remove his right eye. After a few cycles of chemo, Mpilo’s left eye had to be removed as well to prevent the tumour from spreading to his brain.
His prosthetic eyes cost around R50,000. The eyes have to be changed every year.
Mpilo has been cancer-free since 2016. Phumeza describes him as her “hero”.
“My hero every day. He beat cancer. We salute all those fighting cancer,” she wrote on Instagram recently.
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