In the remote mountains of Afghanistan, where the air is thin and the roads treacherous, a silent battle is being fought against an invisible enemy – cancer. For many people living in outreach areas, the journey to the National Cancer Diagnostic and Therapeutic Hospital in Kabul is a lifeline, though one paved with hardship.

Fatima, a 42-year-old mother of 4 living in Ahmader, a small village in the province of Badakhshan, first noticed a lump in her left breast a year ago. By the time she gathered enough money to travel to Kabul, the cancer had spread. Her journey from the village to Kabul took 3 days, first by donkey, then by car. Each mile was a struggle, each bump on the road a reminder of her pain.

When Fatima finally arrived at the National Cancer Diagnostic and Therapeutic Hospital, the only hospital of its kind in the country, she found it overwhelmed.