Jamaican Raje Josephs has been battling Stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma since 2019, and according to his mother, Vanessa Williams-Morgan, the fight has taken a toll on him. Hodgkin’s lymphoma affects the lymphatic system, which is part of the body’s immune system. Williams-Morgan told The Star newspaper that last week she saw him give up “for the first time since all of this started.” He told her, “’Mommy, it looks like it is it this,” she said, adding that she told him they have to try and fight “no matter what.”

Raje and his mother are currently in Cuba at the Instituto Nacional de Oncologia y Radiobiologia where the boy is getting a series of treatments for a bone marrow transplant. Williams-Morgan said they are in dire need of financial support and are looking for help from the public in obtaining the US$46,000 (J$6.7 million) to pay for the procedure. A GoFundMe account has been established to help Raje and so far US$10,000, or J$1.4 million, has been raised. Williams-Morgan expressed her gratitude but noted there is a long way to go.

Williams-Morgan said that the cancer has advanced since Raje’s last examination in Jamaica, which means the mother and son will have to remain in Cuba for a longer time than anticipated. She said the doctors believed that they would have completed the treatment already but needed a payment in order to continue treating him. Raje’s had an immediate need for US$5,000 to continue receiving care, which was satisfied with the amount raised to date via GoFundMe, but “more funds are needed,” she said.

Raje was first diagnosed in 2019, and since then, he has undergone 26 radiation cycles and nine chemotherapy cycles. As his initial chemotherapy cycles did not provide the hoped-for progress that his Jamaican doctors sought, the boy and his mother traveled to Cuba for advanced treatment with the help of some good Samaritans. His father and grandmother remain at home in Jamaica with his siblings.

Williams-Morgan expressed her despair as she must watch her son suffering as he fights for his life. “I am a mess; I can’t eat or sleep. I can’t afford to come this far and to be turned back. I have done all that I can and am at the end. My son has been battling this for two years and he keeps fighting for his life… He is so much stronger than I am,” she said.

Donations to help Raje Josephs may be made to his GoFundMe account or via Vanessa Williams NCB savings account 874098778 Old Harbour Branch. It is possible to follow Raje’s story by visiting his YouTube channel.