Noel Lochan, the young Princes Town labourer afflicted with a rare form of cancer, has been readmitted to hospital. And he is now begging Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar for assistance. Lochan, 27, of Mathilda Road, Princes Town, was rushed to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex on Tuesday after his face and upper body began swelling. He was discharged yesterday, but said he had difficulty eating while at hospital.
He said on Wednesday he underwent a session of chemotherapy and he had been advised to return to the hospital on June 13 for another round. “I feel very weak right now and I have constant pain,” Lochan said. He complained, however, that the nurses showed him scorn and were afraid to touch him due to his condition. He again begged Persad-Bissessar to send him abroad for treatment. Lochan said although he has been undergoing chemotherapy for the past few months, his condition has not changed.
Based on a doctor’s report, Lochan suffers from non hodgkin's lymphoma and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma—an extremely rare form of cancer which afflicts the lymph glands causing tumour-like boils to erupt on his skin. Since his story was reported exclusively in the T&T Guardian on April 27, 2004, Lochan has undergone a series of surgeries at the San Fernando General Hospital. However, six years ago, the boils started growing back on his skin. A team of international doctors examined Lochan in 2006.
At the time, Dr Christopher Lushington, director of Caribbean Basin Area activities of Missions International and a member of Operation Rainbow, said doctors could not determine what the problem was. Initially, blood analysis and tissue biopsies were inconclusive and further tests using more advanced medical equipment were done. Lochan was later given antibiotics and underwent a blood transfusion. He said doctors at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital gave him medication which reduced the size of the boils.
Samples of his tissue were sent abroad for a histology (study of the tissue), following which Dr Lushington said he saw a similar case like Lochan’s in Nigeria. Contacted yesterday, Health Minister Fuad Khan said he would look into Lochan’s case to see if his doctors had recommended that he be sent abroad. “We cannot just send him abroad. We need to find out what is the best course of action.
“The specialist doctor should write a letter identifying the institution he should be sent to and we will look at the cost,” Khan said. He added that many people believed foreign healthcare was the best bet, but this was not always the case.
Lochan’s medication is costly, but over the years he has been receiving financial support from good samaritans following his case. Calls have been made to send Lochan to an international hospital for treatment, but his mother, Cheryl, said they were too poor and could not afford to pay his medical bills.
• Anyone wanting to assist Lochan can contact him at 399-7146 or 779-0496.