AN eight-year-old schoolgirl with a very rare form of cancer has been praised for her bravery after undergoing five operations and four lots of chemotherapy.
Little Eniafe Osenie was diagnosed with Recurrent Germ Cell Tumours in her abdomen two years ago, a condition so unusual in children that even specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital have been unable to say for sure what caused them.
After exhaustive research her family, of Markhouse Road in Walthamstow, managed to track down an expert in Japan, who believes her illness may have been caused by a traumatic experience.
Eniafe was left badly shaken and injured when she was hit by a boy in her school playground in 2009 and her father, 64-year-old Hashim Osenie, believes that may have triggered her condition.
He said: "After it happened we took her to Whipps Cross Hospital and they checked her over, and everything appeared to be OK.
"But a month later we noticed her belly was protruding so we took her back. She had an x-ray and it went from there.
"For us parents it was devastating. It was also difficult because it was so rare and there wasn't much information. We also tried asking everyone we knew with a medical background but no-one knew anything about it."
Eniafe has been in and out of hospital, but Latest tests show the cancer has stopped growing - giving her family hope she may have beaten it.
"It has been very hard," said Mr Osenie. "But I am very proud of how brave she has been. Things are positive and we hope the latest operations have been a success."
The family say they are grateful for getting through the ordeal with the support of Great Ormond Street and charities such as Rays of Sunshine.
It granted Eniafe her "dream wish" and paid for her and her family to go on a trip to Disneyland Paris last month.
Eniafe, a pupil at South Grove Primary School, said: "It was really exciting. I really like swimming so I think the swimming pool they had was my favourite bit."
She added: "I'm happy that I'm moving on from what happened and I just want to put it all behind me."
Visit www.raysofsunshine.org.uk for more information on the charity.
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