LIVE, TOO PRECIOUS TO LOOSE I want to live –Teenage girl with kidney disease cries for help Early morning heavenly clouds shifted towards mid- east as the sun slowly beamed its warm rays onto this street: another day in the suburb of Oshodi, Lagos. The sun’s streaks were mild and enchanting, soothing the dear dark skins of early morning risers of this exciting community, inside the densely populated Shogunle neighborhood. A street trader assembled her merchandise at a designated spot, positioning for community commerce: the water boy, soaked and drenched in his sweat from that early morning supplies, intensely pushed his water cart, loaded with a dozen gallon, rushing towards the direction of his next customers. On the first floor of this aging face- me- I- face- you one-story building, a young father carried his little girl, rocking her gently on his strong arms as they enjoyed the sights and sounds of everyday people walking by to different destinations for their daily bread or activities, blessed by the calm early morning breeze. In this narrow street, the traffic began to build up, Okada bikers jostled for space with street people, competing for supremacy with the feet of determined residents, hasting to begin their daily survival hustles Gutter channels ran through sides of this neighbourhood alley, a young girl set up a makeshift table for her telecom recharge card small business. Before she opened the umbrella, four customers were waiting to patronise her. Inside the house beside the recharge card merchant, another sweet slim but sick teenage girl, welcomed JEBOSE BOULEVARD to her neat little apartment. From the pains of dosages of dialyses, she weakly rose from her mat and offered a stressed smile. You could see and feel the palpable pressure to survive everyday in Henrietta Ijeoma Ewenike, this 19-year-old charming young girl with faith and hope for greater future, but which is being interrupted this early mornings of her life by a dreadful kidney failure. Every day, she rises, awaiting a transplant and a salvation army to fund her get well battle. She hesitated to respond to verbal greetings, slowed and slurred speech from inconsistent dialyses treatment due to funds, she sat on the plastic chair beside me and silently sobbed:” Sir, I just want to be normal again. It’s been four years since my mother and I have been dealing with this disease. I want to get well. I don’t want to live like this anymore..” Her words induced hot moist from the eyes of visitors and sympathizers at this meet. Henrietta Ewenike was diagnosed with severe kidney failure four years ago. The failure was from the infections of Hepatitis B disease which she contracted earlier in life. “Hepatitis B is a serious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Infection with this virus can cause scarring of the liver, kidney failures, liver cancer, and even death. Hepatitis B is spread in infected blood and other bodily fluids such as semen and vaginal secretions. It is spread in the same way that the virus that causes AIDS (HIV) is spread but hepatitis B is 100 times more infectious. About 30 per cent of people who are infected with hepatitis B do not know how they got it. Kidney (renal) disease can cause fluid and waste buildup, which can be potentially deadly. Kidney disease can be caused by diabetes, infections, high blood pressure, hepatitis, and other conditions. Symptoms include swelling, frequent urination, dry skin, fatigue, and many other signs. Treatments for renal disease include medications (to control other conditions that can cause kidney disease), dialysis, and kidney transplants.”(source: webmd). In 2010, Henrietta Ijeoma began to feel feverish inside her boarding school at the Government Girls College in Wamba, a little town outskirts of Abuja, Nasarawa State. She applied basic medication for the fever, but her condition worsened each day. She called her mother when the temperature would not respond to her home care. Her mother came and took her to the Abuja General (Teaching) Hospital where she was subsequently admitted for high fever. Henrietta would spend four months in the hospital, undergoing various tests and trial treatments. “The hospital came back with test result: I had contracted Hepatitis B and that had infected my kidney. I was placed on medication the next four years, treating the infection and the early stages of the kidney disease.’ Past June, mother and daughter relocated to Lagos to begin a new life. She was hired as an administrative secretary in an insurance company based in Lagos. “We relocated to Lagos because of her new job a few months ago. That period too, my body began to change. I was suddenly adding weight; my friends in school noticed I had gained weight. My legs were swollen and I began to feel weaker and fatigued. I gasped every time for breath. I didn’t know I was retaining fluid because my kidney was not able to perform its functions. My condition scared my mother, so she rushed me to Ikeja General Hospital. The hospital had an overflow of sick patients. Its admission units were filled with ailing citizens seeking wellness and care. After several hours of waiting, the doctor examined my condition and diagnosed that I had kidney failure. The doctor recommended a second opinion of his diagnosis from a different hospital: thus, he sent me to Gbagada General Hospital. He also suggested I continue further treatments at the hospital since Ikeja General Hospital had no bed for my admission. After several checks at the Gbagada hospital, the doctor confirmed Ikeja General Hospital’s early findings, adding that my kidney was badly ailing and I must begin aggressive kidney dialyses. I was immediately placed on sectional treatment, each dialysis treatment cost my mother about N50,000. The sectional dialyses were in five stages. After that, I was discharged. “Weeks after my discharge my body began to retain fluids again because my mother could not afford the recommended aggressive three times a week dialyses treatments, that was N150,000 per week. I went back to the Emergency Room of Ikeja General Hospital and the ER doctor prescribed medication to sustain me until my mother was able to find money to continue with dialyses. But my body reacted negatively to the initial medication prescribed by the E.R doctor. “A nice and kind doctor at Ikeja General Hospital, Dr. Umezurike, pitied my condition and came to my rescue. He examined my file and recommended a different medication to support the days or weeks that my mother could not afford to pay for dialyses treatments. I never asked for this. My wish is to get healed. The dialyses would sustain me until I get a kidney transplant. Doctors told my mother to source for funds because being a teenager; they do not recommend a lifetime dialyses. I need help to get a transplant. I want to live. Transplant would stabilise my life and allow me to live normal life. I need money to get a transplant. I do not want to live on the machine three days a week the rest of my life. I am a teenager with ambition. “My father lives in the East. He walked away from us six years ago. Since this illness, I tried several times to ask and plead for his assistance. I called him few months ago and told him about my condition, pleaded with him for financial support. I told him I needed him now more than ever before, just to be my father with all support. I begged that perhaps, he should be ready in future to be tested for a kidney- donor match in case I found financial assistance or sponsor for kidney transplant. I wanted him to be the one to donate his kidney to me if it matched. He is my father. I never judged him or asked why he walked away from us. My father told me that my kidney problem was a deadly disease and that I would not survive it: that meant he would not donate or support me in these challenging times. I pleaded with him two weeks ago. He turned the phone off and he had not bothered to call me since. He never asked after my health since I began this struggle four years ago. I am sick and I may not have much energy and time to do the things I wished I could do, unless a guardian angel stops here and rescues me. I thought my father could seize this moment and be that guardian angel, but he condemned me to death because I have kidney disease. He said kidney disease is deadly, so I would not survive, and then turned his back on me. I will survive, just to tell him that when he didn’t believe in me, the world, especially Nigerians, believed in me. Sir, it was very hard hearing these from my own father. It’s now up to my mom and I with other family members’ support and love…. This sickness has interrupted my education. I wish to be normal teenager, enjoying the blessings of life and accomplishing my wishes and dreams. My dream is to be an Ear, Throat and Nose physician (ENT). But this disease has interrupted my school. I was in SS1 at the Command Day Secondary School, Army Cantonment, Ikeja. But I am too weak to continue with my education. My classmates and students are supporting me. They visit me in school and when Iam admitted at the dialysis centre. My mother cannot afford private home schooling tutorials for me. “I want to accomplish my life’s ambition: I wake up every morning wishing to go back to school, a healthy teenager, pursue my dreams and help my society. But I need help. My mother cannot fund my transplant. We have depleted all our savings. I don’t want to die this young.” 8 hrs · Public
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:54:29 +0000
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