Westmoreland father seeks overseas cancer treatment for nine-year-old daughter

Westmoreland father Nickel Green says the past four years have been marked by anxious waiting, repeated setbacks and a growing fear that time is running out for his nine-year-old daughter.

His child, Nickkara Green, was diagnosed in 2023 with Stage IV Alveolar soft part sarcoma, or ASPS. The disease is a rare, aggressive cancer that develops in soft tissue and, in some patients, can move gradually but relentlessly into essential organs.

The US National Cancer Institute says soft tissue sarcomas make up about one per cent of all cancers. ASPS is even more uncommon, accounting for only a tiny portion of those cases, with about 80 people diagnosed each year in the United States.

For Green, those figures do little to ease what he faces at home. He said his daughter’s pain has worsened over time, and he believes a medical referral could give her the chance she needs.

“I have been waiting from she was about five and mi have to say, ‘Oh God, mi can't just sit down and watch my pickney dead’,” Green said.

He said, from what he has seen, the doctors appear unsure about the next step and have raised the possibility of sending the child abroad for treatment.

In a recent effort to find assistance, Green shared a video on TikTok about his daughter’s condition. He said the post drew hundreds of thousands of views and eventually got the attention of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States. St Jude is recognised for its work with childhood cancers and paediatric illnesses.

“I finally get to St Jude, the video guh viral,” he said. “I just feel like cry and they are telling me everything to do now. They are going to write a letter, so now I am looking for embassy dates,” he said.

Green said Nickkara’s health problems began when she was around five, when she started complaining about intense belly pain. He said he carried her to doctors several times, but nothing major was identified at first.

“They just gave her Panadol and little DPH, that's it,” he said.

As the pain became more severe, Green said he became convinced that something was badly wrong. He said the child’s crying grew harder to bear and pushed him to seek another medical opinion.

“I was wondering why the baby belly a pain her so. One time she got up in the middle of the night crying for pain and I gave her little tea. Then one morning I made her breakfast and she vomited, and so I brought her to a different doctor,” he recalled.

That appointment, Green said, changed everything. During the examination, the doctor saw a troubling swelling, and the family’s long and painful medical road began.

“I thought it was a hernia because I didn't know about any cancer,” he said.

Green said Nickkara was sent immediately to Savanna-la-Mar Public General Hospital. From there, he said, she was later transferred to Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James as the family moved through several medical facilities in western Jamaica.

Even with those visits, Green said clear answers were hard to come by. Early in the process, he said he began asking for a referral overseas because he did not believe the local system had what was needed to treat his daughter’s illness.

“The baby just a bawl a bawl,” he said, adding that her cries from pain can be heard from several feet away.

At one stage, Green said he was told that overseas care might demand money far beyond his reach.

“One nurse tell me say $30 million upfront,” he said. “Only if me a scammer or drugs man me could find that. I am just a contractor,” Green said.

Green is now caught between hope and uncertainty. He believes the response from St Jude may have opened a path, but he is still waiting to know what will happen next.

His priority, he said, is getting treatment for Nickkara, whom he described as kind and full of life. He said she dreams of becoming a doctor.

“She says she wants to be a doctor and I just wish she recovers from cancer. I just want the best for my daughter,” Green said.