BY ONOZURE DANIA
Help! Help!! Please help me save Ganiyat. I don’t want my daughter to die! Such were the heart-rending cries of  Gani Ibrahim, father of 24-year-old Ganiyat, a promising  Nigerian youth who until now, never imagined  she would go abegging for financial aid.

A  native of Modakeke in Osun state, Ibrahim was practically in tears when he arrived Vanguard’s head office in Lagos last week. His sole mission was to plead with the newspaper company to  use its medium to help raise N2.0 million that would enable his daughter undergo urgent surgery to relieve her of an abnormally large tumour of the oral cavity.

Ganiyat who only just managed to speak coherently, told Good Health Weekly that her travails began in 2004. “It started like a boil inside my lower lip and I thought it was a minor thing, but when it now started growing abnormally, I knew it was something much more serious.” She was taken to  a private  hospital, and was  operated on, but the swelling  continued to grow.

At another hospital, it was learned that the growth   was a tumour. Nothing concrete could be done  due to lack of money till 2009, when Ganiyat was referred to Yaba Military Hospital, where she was confronted with a N 1.4 million bill for surgery.

Alas, she was unable to raise the money. Gani narrated that prior to this,  Ganiat had been referred to the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, where she was on  appointment every Monday  for a total of three months.

In March 2007, the search for reprieve shifted to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja. There, she went through another plethora of tests and x-rays,  for another lengthy three months.  A radiological examination  taken by one Dr Adeleke, gave a verdict of Cystic ameloblastoma. According to the  report noted that she had a huge cystic expandable jaw mass in the lower half of her jaw with a floating uninterrupted tooth within.

Ganiyat said she stopped going to the Ikeja hospital and opted for  a private hospital instead. “Around that time, I fell seriously ill and I was advised to return to the Yaba Military Hospital. I have been there to date, but my major  problem is lack of finance since I am jobless and my father is poor.”

Gani stressed that for the surgery to be successful,she would require reconstruction of her lower jaw in addition to radiotherapy. He  worried that since Ganiyat couldn’t meet up with the amount requested for the operation, she has had to stay home like as every kobo   the family had had been exhausted.

“This is why we are pleading seriously with  well meaning  Nigerians  and  government, to  come to her aid. She is still  young and has a lot of potential and much to achieve. I have done  all in my power to ensure she survives.

“Though we have gone to  another media house, we believe in the Vanguard Newspaper, and that is why we are here to solicit for help from well meaning Nigerians.