BY EBELE ONUORAH

“I thought we could manage just as we had been doing since 2002. But it was when the doctor told me, last year, that the option left for my daughter to live was to undergo a kidney transplant, that it dawned on me that it was a great task the family could not handle all alone. I plead with the government to come to our aid very quickly, I want the Governor and my fellow Nigerians to help donate so that she can undergo kidney transplant, I do not want my daughter to die,” lamented Ndidi’s mother in a low tone.

Ndidi

Born to the family of Mr & Mrs Anuforo of Ngor Okpalla in Imo State, Ndidiamaka, a 29-year-old undergraduate of the University of Ado-Ekiti and an NCE certificate from Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education( AOCOED) said it all started in 2002.“I noticed an unusual swelling and heaviness in my legs and alerted my mother. She then suggested that we go to the hospital, so went to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH). After series of tests I was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome from an underlying Secondary Glomerular Disease. The doctors prescribed some drugs for me but my health kept fluctuating.

In 2004, I received two pints of blood.”

Doctors asked her to stay away from protein to reduce further complications.

Ndidi was still able to carry on with her teaching job at Future Wealth Creche & Schools, Isolo as well as her part – time study. She took her drugs religiously whilst looking up to God for a miracle. In between taking drugs, she visited the clinics and hospital for tests, up until the big shocker came in 2007 when she learned the disease had affected her two kidneys because she had not been responding to the drugs. “I went on dialysis but irregularly because it was not all the time we had the money to pay the bills. There was even a period when Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) went on solidarity strike, I had to go to a private hospital that charged me about N45,000 as against LUTH’s N30,000, per session.” Swollen shiny cheeks, painful, swollen heavy legs and the urge to vomit are some of the signs that her condition is deteriorating.

Even while on dialysis, she often reacted and then the doctor would have to take it out, wait a while and put it back. Ndidi tried very hard to go about her daily activities, not forgetting to be grateful to God for life. But: “It is not easy on me at all. Since my health condition got worse I could barely do anything on my own. Over the years, I have gotten so weak that I even stopped working. As for my school, I am still lucky because it is a part-time programme”. It was only last year when the doctor told them that they needed to do a kidney transplant as a matter of urgency that her mother started seeking financial assistance from the public. She still has some tests and mini-operations to undergo before the kidney transplant that are still on hold because of financial hindrances. The doctors advise she undergo the operation which will gulp a whooping N6 million as quickly as possible because constant dialysis is not the best.

She presently does her dialysis through her waist but they want her to do a mini operation so she can continue the dialysis through her neck so that the waist region would be strong at the time of the kidney transplant. Weak and in pains, Ndidi appealed: “ I am really tired of living this way, I wish to go back to school, and back to work, I don’t want to be useless, I want to be strong again. Please, help me.”

•If you wish to help Ndidi, please call Ndidiamaka Anuforo on 08037577142 or Mrs.Angela Anuforo on 08074449355.