Retinoblastoma

This has been confirmed by the members of the ‘Save Bongre’ fundraising drive, which was raising funds to support him.

The three-year-old succumbed to a rare form of cancer for children – retinoblastoma, that had affected his right eye.

It became his parents’ nightmare over the last two years.

Bongre’s story caught the country’s attention when mother Sinta and father Anton brought him to Port Moresby in search of answers.

Sinta reflects on the few years with her firstborn son - Bongre.

She, a young woman from Hagen, married a man from Goroka, few years older than her, in 2011.

3 years later, she gives birth to a healthy baby boy, who they will call Bongre.

But Sinta says her first birth wasn’t an easy one - she had about 36 stitches.

Nevertheless, Bongre was the perfect baby.

At 1 year, he was very chubby and had fair skin. Sinta says everybody in the village took turns carrying him; she hardly held her own child.