Nine years, three tumours, two transplants: One family's fight against a cancer that keeps returning

When Lakita Frida Abongo wheeled herself towards the graduation podium at Crawford International School this June, the atmosphere shifted from formal celebration to pure awe. The entire room rose to its feet in a thunderous standing ovation.

Bound to a wheelchair, having flown straight from a hospital bed in India, the 19-year-old was receiving her Year 13 diploma alongside her peers. It was a milestone hard-won through nearly a decade of fighting a form of bone cancer. Her battle began in September 2017.

Then aged 10, Lakita started complaining of pain around her knee after playing sports, the kind of pain a parent might dismiss as the result of too much running, an awkward landing, or growing pains. Her family assumed it was nothing more than that.

But the pain did not ease; it grew worse and more persistent. Her mother, Joyce Mwangi, eventually took her for a scan, which revealed what looked like a tumour. Seeking answers, the family travelled to India, where doctors diagnosed her with osteosarcoma, a cancer that forms in the bone. She immediately began chemotherapy, followed by surgery to remove and replace the affected knee and bone. For a while, it seemed the worst might be behind them.

Also read: Toothache that became a tumour: Woman's 15-year medical nightmare that ended in landmark surgery