Queen of Katwe teen actress, 15-year old Nikita Pearl Waligwa succumbs to cancer

Fifteen year old Nikita Pearl Waligwa, better known for her role as Gloria, in Disney’s biopic movie, Queen of Katwe, has gone to be with the Lord.

She passed on, yesterday February 15^th 2020 at TMR International Hospital in Naalya, in the suburbs of Kampala. She was awaiting another surgery to remove a reoccurring cancerous tumour.

Nikita who has been in and out of hospitals in Uganda and India, was first diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2016. Consequently, she had surgery in April 2016. Shortly after the surgery, Nikita was diagnosed with cancer and she underwent radiotherapy in July 2016.

In February 2017, following a review, she was declared cancer free and resumed school.

She was admitted to Gayaza High School in 2018. In February 2019 she was re-diagnosed with another brain tumour and instead of reporting to school for her senior two, she instead reported to Platinum Hospital, where doctors advised her to go for a tumour surgery in India.

“She is in a lot of pain. The brain is swollen and it is exerting a lot of pressure. The head feels heavy, so she always lies down but she can walk,” Rachel Asiimwe Waligwa, Nikita’s mother told this reporter, when he visited them at Platinum Hospital, in Nakasero, Kampala in April 2019.

Soon after she travelled to India for another surgery.

After India, she was in and out of hospital, but her mother never gave up on her.  She swore to be by her side, giving her a shoulder to lean on and fight with every inch of her strength and indeed she did.

Nikita, is best remembered for her quote in the movie: “In chess, the small one can become the big one.”

The movie was directed by Mira Nair and starred among others Hollywood star Lupita Nyong’o and British actor and producer, David Oyelowo.

The movie was widely watched on the international scene and Uganda too.

Burial details are yet to be announced.