When Nigerian native Buhari Salisu Buhari was 3, he underwent surgery after he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare malignant tumor of the inner lining in his eye.
Since no care was available in Nigeria, his father took him to Saudi Arabia.
Performing the surgery was Dr. Susan Senft, a Hawaii island ophthalmologist then serving as the acting head of the Division of Pediatric Ophthalmology at King Kahled Hospital in Riyadh.
Cancerous lesions in Buhari’s right eye were frozen off. His left eye was removed due to the advanced stage of the tumor and replaced with an orbital implant and prosthetic eye.
More than 20 years later, the vision in his right eye is 20/15, but he started to feel severe pain around his prosthesis. His lower left lid also started to sag, raising the chance that the prosthesis could pop out of the socket.
He found Senft’s name in his medical record and tracked her down via the Internet. In January he called her office at Island Eye Care Inc. in Kailua-Kona. When staff informed her of the call from Nigeria, Senft initially thought it was a scam. It wasn’t until she picked up the phone when she realized the call was from a former patient.
Senft recalled Buhari saying, "This is Buhari. You saved my life."
From there, Senft helped Buhari obtain a visa to travel to Hawaii for reconstructive surgery. She then called her colleagues for assistance.
Last week Buhari, accompanied by his older brother, Gazzali, flew to the islands from Africa and met Senft for the first time since he was a toddler.
"I couldn’t believe how much he grew," she said, adding he stood more than 6 feet tall. "He was 3 years old when I last saw him."
Before surgery Monday, Buhari, now 25, said he was grateful for the team of doctors in Hawaii who performed the surgery and conducted eye examinations to check for any signs of recurring cancerous cells. "I’m very, very happy," he said. "So many people are willing to help."
Dr. Jorge Camara, an ophthalmologist, reconstructed his lower left eyelid to help hold the prosthesis in place and prevent infection.
"I’m so happy we were able to do this for Buhari," said Camara, past president of the Aloha Medical Mission, which provides free medical care to underserved people in Hawaii and Southeast Asia. "He’s an exceptionally nice young man. It’s nice to contribute positively to his life that he has ahead of him."
Services also were donated by ocularist Doss Tannehill, retinal surgeon Dr. Eugene Ng, Dr. Steven Holmes of Hawaii Advanced Imaging Institute, anesthesiologist Dr. Michael Pi and Surgicare of Hawaii.
Buhari, a petroleum engineering student at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi, Nigeria, raised travel money on his own. He will soon transfer to Bayero University in Kano to be closer to home.
Retinoblastoma affects 1 in 250,000 births worldwide, according to Senft, noting a high prevalence in Saudi Arabia. Children are diagnosed with the cancer by age 3 or 5. If left untreated, cancerous cells can spread through the optic nerve to the brain, bones and liver.
