Luisa is a seven year old girl from Putumayo in southern Colombia. She developed a fever, abdominal swelling, bone pain and bruising and was referred to the INC by her local hospital. Putumayo is more than 350 miles south of Bogota and she and her grandfather travelled for 20 hours by bus to see a specialist doctor at the INC. Her family are very poor and her parents were unable to take time off work to be with her. 

She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a type of leukaemia which is curable in 80% of cases in Europe and the US. She began her chemotherapy treatment immediately and responded well to the drugs. She and her grandfather remained in hospital for two months and she continued to make good progress.   However, the practical and financial pressures of being away from home for such a long time led to them leaving hospital before the completion of the full course of treatment. Dr Vizcaino prescribed oral chemotherapy drugs with instructions to return to the hospital in eight weeks but sadly Luisa did not return.  Without the full course of treatment her prognosis was very bleak.      

Luisa in hospital at the INC with her grandfather