. seeks N45m financial assistance for medical transplantation
By Chuks Eke
Fresh from the University, a 27-year old first class graduate of Business Administration from Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, COOU, Anambra state, formerly Anambra state University, Igbariam, Ezechukwu Ifeanyi Raphael has been hit by kidney failure.
The kidney failure which was discovered recently after undergoing series diagnosis and medical examinations from various dialysis centers where medical experts recommended kidney transplant as the only possible remedy for Ezechukwu’s survival and continued living, has created tensions send shocking waves down the spines of the family members.
The medical examination had confirmed that Ezechukwu Ifeanyi Raphael, a native of Umuchi Village, Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area of the state, has his two kidneys dead, and requires urgent transplantation with approximately a whooping sum of N45 million to save his life.
Confirming this development to newsmen at his No. 14 Ezendu Street residential home, off Mercedes Avenue, Nkpor-Agu, Idemili North Local Government Area of the state, the young Ezechukwu decried his ordeal, and called for urgent financial assistance so as to survive or else he would join his ancestors in no distant time.
He said, “I graduated barely a year ago, and ever since I left the school, I was down with kidney problems. At first, I didn’t go to hospital, because I thought it was malaria and I kept treating malaria until some months ago when the colour of my urine turned into pure yelow and my body started swelling.
“It was then that I alerted my mother, and we quickly contacted medical experts”.
“After series of laboratory tests and medical examinations, it was discovered that one of my kidneys was dead. We sought the opinion of the medical doctor on medical options available, and he said that I would be undergoing kidney dialysis to keep me alive. In the last few months, we did as much as 50 dialysis; but there was no improvement; rather, it was getting worse by the day”.
“Last week, the medical doctor told us that the other kidney has equally failed, an indication that none of the kidneys is functioning anymore. That was when he advised that we should solicit for funds to either travel abroad or go to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, for immediate kidney transplant. He said that with the condition of my kidneys, I can hardly survive for the next two months.”
Also speaking, Mrs. Nwakaego Stella Ezechukwu, mother of the patient, confirmed that her son had undergone 50 dialysis, and that the family had spent as much as N18 million on tests and dialysis, even as she urged well meaning Nigerians, as well as men and women of goodwill, groups and voluntary organizations the world over to assist her son to live.
“I don’t understand what is going on in my household,” Mrs Ezechukwu lamented, adding, my husband was bedridden for 11 years before he finally died. In the course of his sickness, my family sold everything we had to take care of his medical bills untill he died. We had only finished his funeral ceremony, and this one has cropped up again”.
“My family members have borrowed and borrowed and borrowed to the extent that nobody wants to lend us again. Medical report had confirmed that if kidney transplant is not done within one month, his chances of survival would not be guaranteed and I am once again begging public spirited individuals and charity organizations to come to our aid”.
She declared: “The information is that doing the transplant will cost about forty-five million naira (45m). Donors can contact me through my phone number: 08068282639. My account details are: Stella Nwakaego Ezechukwu. Access Bank: 0074363228. Those wishing to visit us at home could locate us at No. 14 Ezendu Street, off Mercedes Avenue, Nkpor-Agu, Idemili North LGA, Anambra state.”
