She has been battling with cancer for nine years during which she underwent four separate surgeries by local experts but her condition is getting worse by the day.

The family of 31-year-old Paulina Owusu, is racing against time to raise $17,000 (about GH¢90, 000) for her treatment abroad. Paulina has been bed-ridden since leaving the university in 2012 and has been struggling for survival.

Doctors say she is suffering from a cancer condition, known as dermatofibriosarcoma.

After several unsuccessful surgeries in Ghana, Paulina has now been referred to India for comprehensive surgery to remove the cancer from the back of her right shoulder.

According to doctors, Paulina’s cancerous growth must be removed before the end of next month April, or it will spread to other parts of her body.

The hope of the former student of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to overcome the cancer and pursue further studies now hangs in the balance.

“This sickness started when I was in third year at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and before [then] it was growing very fast so the doctors recommended that I undergo surgery,” she revealed.

She said, “a sample was taken to the lab and it was found out that, my illness was cancerous.”

Since graduation in 2012, Paulina has been indoors and bedridden. In her condition, she feels shy to meet her friends.

“I’ve had four surgeries but it is still growing back. I had my last surgery at the 37 Military hospital and they referred me to the oncology department at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital,” she said in tears.

Lively Paulina at graduation before she was struck by cancer

“I feel very sad because I see a lot of my mates doing well in my field [but] because of this sickness, I have been in the house for close to seven years after graduation."

She is on 100mg tramadol capsules medication daily to manage the severe pain.

“I feel a lot of pains and I have sleepless nights. Sometimes, I take tramadol to control the pains. It is extremely painful and I have lost a lot of weight. I can barely sit. When I sleep too, I just have to lie on one side,” Paulina recounts the pain and agony she has been enduring since the cancer started in 2012.

Her mother, Christiana Amankwa, says she has had to sell her property, including a plot of land to pay for Paulina’s medical bills.

“I have sold my [plot of ] land to support her because of the high cost of treatment. I plead with benevolent individuals and institutions to help. I am sick myself [and] unable to work.

She like Paulina, has also lost hope.      

“I have lost hope. My daughter has been afflicted with such sickness right after national service, without employment; it is devastating. She is determined to do something to support the family but here we are with this unfortunate situation," Madam Christiana Amankwa lamented.

She is calling for public support to save the life of her last child from cancer.