Shingirai Huni Herald Correspondent
Rutendo Chizura (7) is seeking assistance to buy sun-screens, protective clothing against sunlight and to go to South Africa for a skin operation. She is suffering from xerodema pigmentosa — a rare condition in which the skin and tissue covering the eye are extremely sensitive to ultraviolet light.
Xerodema pigmentosa damages the genetic material (DNA) in skin cells.
The US National Library of Medicine states that, normally, the body repairs this damage but, in persons with xeroderma pigmentosa, the body does not fix the damage.
As a result, the skin gets very thin and patches of varying colour (splotchy pigmentation) appear.
Rutendo has patches of discoloured skin and an oozing raw skin surface.
As a child, she faces difficulties playing outdoors with her friends as any exposure to the sunlight causes blistering of her skin.
Rutendo is due to go to South Africa for chemotherapy.
Her mother, Thandiwe Jambangwe, is calling for assistance in cash or in kind to enable her daughter battle the rare condition.
“I am appealing to fellow Zimbabweans for any assistance, be it cash or kind, to enable my daughter to fight this illness,” she said.
“I was recommended by a dermatologist to take my daughter to South Africa for chemotherapy and I do not have the money to cover the expenses.”
Anyone willing to assist can contact Mrs Jambangwe on 0735 550 087 or call at number 8 Cassia Road, Msasa Park, Harare.