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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
A BRIGHT light is at threat of being extinguished if no urgent intervention is undertaken.

Schools open this coming Monday but 14-year-old Valerie Nyoni from Hwange cannot join her schoolmates at Tsholotsho High School where she is a boarder doing Form Two. She is battling for life in hospital with a rare disease that has eaten away her nose and upper lip leaving her with a gaping wound that has deformed her face.

Her condition has not been diagnosed as she still awaits test results from blood and tissue samples taken almost a month ago at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where she had been admitted.

Valerie is admitted to Hwange Colliery Hospital where her mother Ms Angeline Sibanda has literally turned into a nurse as she spends all her time on her daughter’s bedside feeding and keeping her company.

A news crew visited Valerie on her hospital bed and observed that the whole nose and upper lip and part of her left cheek have been eaten away, leaving an open wound.

She could hardly move because of pain as she lay on the bed.

Her voice is faint while her body looks pale, a direct opposite of a strong young girl she was last year, according to her mother.

Ms Sibanda tries to hide the trauma she is going through seeing her daughter lying on a hospital bed, thin and exhausted.

She says they have not even told Valerie that schools have opened for fear of further traumatising her because of her love for school.

Valerie is the last born in a family of three daughters.

Her elder sister Miss Sithokozile Nyoni says: “She is our joy as a family as she is always in a jovial mood and likes cracking jokes whenever she is home. She is intelligent, hardworking and we know she has potential to pass her studies. It pains me to see her lying helpless and at some point, she told us how she fell from a hospital bed at United Bulawayo Hospitals and there was no one to lift her up.”

The girl did her primary education at Mabinga Primary School in Hwange before going to Tsholotsho for Form One.

Her father Mr Thomas Nyoni said her condition started while she was at school in November last year.

He said the family was shocked by the way her body had deteriorated when she returned from school after closing last year.

“She complained of flue in June last year before a pimple developed inside her right nose. She was treated and went back to school in October. She was pale when she came back in December and you could smell pus from her but we couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

“We took her to hospital and they drained pus from inside the nose and discharged her, “ said Mr Nyoni.

He said the pimple kept growing and in January the whole nose had turned dark.

Valerie was once again taken to hospital but there was no change.

“In February something terrible happened. She was in her bedroom when she called her mother and telling her that her nose had fallen off.

We took her to hospital and they referred her to United Bulawayo Hospitals where they took three blood tests and tissue samples from the nose wound,” said Mr Nyoni.

Valerie was discharged two weeks later and up to now she is yet to get test results.

Her condition continued to deteriorate and she was taken back to Hwange Colliery Hospital where she is admitted.

Mr Nyoni blamed Tsholotsho High School authorities for not notifying him about his daughter’s condition in time.

“They claimed to have been checking her temperature on a daily basis but we wonder why they failed to pick that she was not feeling well.

“She came back very thin and it shows she had stopped eating well. She has another wound in the throat and it smells badly. The pain is unbearable for her and she struggles to eat. We are just stuck because we don’t know the kind of disease that is afflicting her since results are not yet out,” he said.

Mr Nyoni said he wants his daughter to get the best treatment and appealed to well-wishers to help the family financially.

Those who want to help can EcoCash Mr Nyoni on 0786574781 or use his ZB Bank Hwange Branch account numbers 4633604511200 or 4633604511405 (Nostro). — @ncubeleon