BY SOLA OGUNDIPE
A BRIEF  encounter with Adaobi Agbago leaves one with an odd mixture  of  enthusiasm and disappointment. On one hand it is difficult not to be enthusiastic about  her  liveliness, friendliness and sheer vivacity. On the other hand, it is just as difficult not to feel a twinge of regret and disappointment at the helplessness brought on by her plight.

When she turned up at Vanguard’s corporate office recently, Adaobi who hails from Okija, Anambra State, appeared outwardly  hale and hearty. But only on closer look could  the  emptiness of the deeply troubled woman that she really is, becomes established.

The mother of two who, unfortunately, is widowed, only needed to lift  the hem of her flowing dress to reveal an enormous and extremely painful swelling from just below her right knee right up to the thigh.

In an emotion-laden voice, she narrated her ordeal with the health condition diagnosed as osteogenic arthritis or Paget’s Disease of Bone – a focal disorder in bone metabolism that enlarges affected bones and deforms them.

Adaobi does not know how she became afflicted with the painful disorder that  began suddenly almost 10 years ago.  She suspects she could have been poisoned.

“I am an only child. I was married in 2000 but lost my husband in a tragic road accident in 2002. This problem began soon after his burial. I have two children Chidera, 11 and  Chinaza, 9, but I am unable to fend for them or even myself because of this my leg problem that has brought me to Lagos in search of a solution.”

Adaobi who relocated  from Onitsha and currently resides with her sister at Okoko in Lagos, narrated how she had gone everywhere and tried almost everything to no avail. ”When the problem started, the pain was so severe I just couldn’t bear it. I went for x-ray at the Teaching  Hospital, Nnewi, from where I was referred to the National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu.  I was told the result of  the x-ray was not good.

“At Enugu I was told to go abroad for treatment or the other option was to amputate the leg. This was in 2005. I am not paralysed. The nerves in the leg are okay, I have feeling in the leg, but I had no one to take care of me and I had to be managing like that. When the pain becomes unbearable, I just go to the chemist and complain of pain and I am given any drug that can provide relief.”

A medical assessment which described Adaobi’s condition as “very painful” noted that the cause is generally unknown, although some investigations ascribe it to a virus. Others point to a genetic origin.

Medical literature says the condition is a result of a  breakdown in the body’s ability to form bones. “The bones become thicker, weaker, and deformed in cycles, as it subsides and flares up, getting progressively worse.”

But three months ago . Adaobi suffered a freak domestic accident that worsened her plight. “I was in the house at Okoko when I  slipped and fell on the bad leg. I fractured my hip on the same bad leg and had to be take to a traditional bone setter. Now I can only walk with  crutches.”

Although a trained school teacher , is now  forced to abandon her vocation. “When I first came to Lagos, I was trading and went to Cotonou to buy and sell used wears. But since the accident I can no longer cope with that. Now I am just at home. Before then, I could manage the leg, even though the pains were there.

A doctor had advised her to go for surgery as the only solution, but the stumbling blok is the cost. “At the moment I am seeking  N4.5 million  for treatment in India. The operation itself would cost about N3million, but  I would also need money for other eventualities in the course of the trip.”

My plea is to anybody who can help me. I need solution to this leg fast. The pain is killing me. I am appealing to anyone who can help  to come to my aid.  Since I lost my husband there has been no help. I am alone. I am helpless. I seek a solution once and for all.”