A sad story of Riaki village in Meru County was highlighted by Daily Nation on Tuesday.
According to one of the village residents, Mr Silas Kithinji, a headteacher at Amwamba Primary School, the village could be having the highest number of cancer deaths.
Kithinji, who lost his mother last year from ovarian cancer, pointed out that almost every home in the village has a cancer patient.
In his rough estimates, over 10 people have died from the disease from his village, with many others suffering from the disease.
Another resident, Ms Lydia Muthoni said that it is costly to treat the disease. She revealed that her mother, Mary Kanini, who could not talk due to throat cancer has been suffering since March.
Lydia and her mother have rotated in various hospitals around the country in search of treatment in vain.
“She cannot talk. We have been to Kenyatta hospital and many other hospitals but she is yet to improve. We have sold land, and cattle and borrowed extensively besides devoting most of our time to take care of mum. We are suffering,” Said Ms Muthoni said as quoted by Daily Nation.
Lydia also revealed that other families are also suffering with cancer patients at their homes in the Riaki village.
The Auki sub-location area manager Patrick Kiini told Nation that people started suffering from the disease in 2015.
“We have a crisis in this village – everyone is affected. We have lost more than 11 villagers to cancer in the last two years. We have been financially and emotionally drained by the disease,” Mr Kiini said.
His mother is a cancer victim suffering from breast cancer.
Many villagers have been drained financially due to the expensive treatment of cancer. Those who can't afford the expensive treatments succumb to the deadly disease.
A section of villagers in Riaka suffer from various types of cancer such as breast cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, eye cancer, tongue cancer, blood cancer, stomach cancer
The villagers have on various occasion requested the government to conduct research in the area to determine the cause of the many cancer cases in the area.