H-E-L-P! THIS BOY HAS ONLY TWO WEEKS TO LIVE
?I Am dying, please help me. I don?t want to die, aunty please help
me!?
These were the pathetic and hardly-audible words from Master
Okechukwu Richard
Aligwe, lying critically ill on his hospital bed at St Nicholas
Hospital,
Lagos,nigeria.
Except there is a divine intervention or an urgent transplant,
Richard, 13,
may not live beyond two weeks from now. To rescue Richard from the
merciless
hands of death, the sum of $35,000 is required by doctors at the
hospital.
The teenager, according to medical experts, is suffering from a
chronic kidney
disease, otherwise called End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), which has
stopped
his two kidneys from functioning. The primary six pupil, born to Mr.
& Mrs.
Fredrick Aligwe from Umuaku Isiochi, Abia State in nigeria, never
anticipated
that a day would come when his survival on earth will depend on the
willingness
of people and his poor parents to provide the needed sum for him to
continue
his dialysis before an urgent transplant is performed on him.
It all started in October 2005 when he fell sick and was taken to the
hospital
where he was diagnosed to have malaria. The malaria, however, defiled
all
medications. Months later, he was asked to undergo an ultra sound
scan which
revealed a case of kidney disease.
Astonished at the scan revelation, the parents were not convinced
that their
son could have such an illness. While they were still thining of the
next
action to take, the boy?s eyes started to get blurred as his feet
began to
swell. They repeated the test which confirmed full-blown kidney
disease.
With the development, the Aligwe family was thrown into confusion.
Richard,
the last in the family of five dropped out of school and his
condition continued
to deteriorate as the day went by. His condition further compounded
the
family?s economic problems as he requires at least three rounds of
dialysis
every other week at the University Teaching Hospital, Enugu (UNTH),
where
he was admitted for some months.
He was later transferred from UNTH to St Nicholas Hospital Lagos in
nigeria,
a week ago and has been on dialysis. Right now, hospital authorities
have
discovered that the two kidneys are no longer functioning, but
Richard is
still alive because he has been on dialysis through financial
assistance
from Onii- Egbuniwe Kidney Foundation, Owerri, Imo State.
Narrating his ordeal to Saturday Vanguard news paper in nigeria from
his
sick bed, Richard who could neither stand on his own without holding
his
father, was able to mutter these words with pain in his voice.
?Initially, I thought it was malaria. Please help me. I don?t want
to die.
I want to go to school. Where on earth will my parents get this kind
of money?
Please aunty, tell people to help me, God will reward whoever donates
to
save my life.?
At this point, he began to cry. He could no longer speak. His parents
and
others began to console him. He continued to sob. No doubt, the
_____expression
on his face was enough to tell anyone that he was passing through
hell.
For Mr. & Mrs. Aligwe, it has been a harrowing experience since the
news
of the amount of money required to save their son?s life was broken
to them.
Ever since the problem started, Mr. Aligwe, a police officer in
Bauchi State
has been nothing but a human wreck. Getting him to talk was like
trying to
squeeze water from a dry leaf.
When he was persuaded by this reporter to say something, what was
clearly
on display was the deep pain of knowing that he may lose his son if
nothing
is done urgently.
Hear his heart rendering story: ?Where do I start? How do I get the
money?
Why would my son die because of money? What has he done? I have been
on
leave for the past one month. My leave is over now. I am an ordinary
policeman,
how much is my salary? I can only beg Nigerians to come to my aid.
?I have no kobo with me now. I have spent all I had at UNTH and now I
am
left with nothing. But I don?t want to watch my son die. Please, I?m
on my
knees for my fellow countrymen to help me.?
Asked how he came to St Nicholas hospital, he said: ?It was the Onii
Egbuniwe
Kidney Foundation and Kidney Consultant International, Lagos that
brought
us here. Onii- Egbuniwe Foundation has been solely bearing the
medical bill
since we contacted them.
?But my only hope now is that my son can at least eat and go to
toilet unlike
when we were in Enugu. There has been a tremendous change. I plead
with
the people to come to my rescue, I beg people to donate. I am poor.
I don?t
have a kobo. I pray God to bless anyone that donates to my son?s
survival.
I am hoping that they will respond?
Speaking at a joint press conference to canvass support for Richard,
organized
by Onii- Egbuniwe Kidney Foundation and Kidney Consultant
International (KCI),
the doctor in charge of Richard?s case, Dr. Ebun Bamgboye also was
all pleas
for people to respond quickly in order to save the boy?s life.
Operation Manager of Onii- Egbuniwe Foundation, Mr. Donald Okafor
disclosed
that the organisation has spent over $2500 so far on dialysis alone.
Also speaking, Mr Adebayo Sokunbi of KCI described Richard?s case as
a classical
example that kidney disease that ought to be addressed drastically.
He stressed
the need to enlighten the populace on the dangers of kidney problem
saying
that ?Richard is alive today because he had been on dialysis for the
past
few weeks?.
*If you are touched by the plight of this boy, please channel all
your donations
to St Nicholas Hospital, Lagos OR reply to the above FOUNDATION
PLEASE NOTE; THIS IS NOT SCAMMED MAIL,FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/features/health/gh220062006.
html
