 |
| Goodness |
He was born with a defective intestine which has sentenced
him to a life of passing out wastes from the stomach instead of the normal
physiological path for five years. but with corrective surgery, baby Goodness
would go back to normal life and live like other children, writes Chiemelie
Ezeobi
For most people, little thought is given to bowel control
and movement as it’s just a natural phenomenon that takes place after
digestion. However normal that is for others, the same does not apply to
5-year-old Goodness. But that was not always the case for him.
When his mother, Florence Nkemachor, noticed the signs of
pregnancy in 2008, like any new mother, she battled with morning sickness and
other effects associated with pregnancy and took them in her stride.
She also had to go through moments of mood swings but all
these were soon overcome by the joy of childbirth in June 2009. With his first
cry, baby Goodness captured his mother’s heart and with good reason too; his
beautiful smile was captivating.
For his father, Kingsley Ebokpayi, the birth of his son was
simply a ‘Kodak’ moment. Like all males, the birth of a son often depicts their
strength and the elongation of their lineage. Ebokpayi’s cases was no different
as he strutted with pride.
However, days after he was born, Goodness’s captivating
smiles soon turned to unending wails. Although attempts were made to assuage
his cries, it was to no avail to the bafflement of his parents.
It took the discerning eyes of his mother to notice that
days after his birth he was yet to excrete like normal babies despite the
amount of breast milk he gulped down, as shown by his bulging tummy.
At first, it was put down to having a severe constipation,
but that perception was to change when the waste started to flow out of his
mouth.
It was an alarmed mother that rushed him back to the Igando
General Hospital before he was referred to the Ikeja General Hospital.
After series of tests, he was diagnosed of a defective
excretory disease, which has hindered him from passing feaces through the right
channel.
An operation was scheduled and the doctors brought the
intestine to bypass the anus to enable him excrete. But the surgery has become
one too many as he has undergone five surgeries without the doctors being able
to correct the abnormality.
Goodness’s case represents several of similar cases of
infants who are born with defective excretory condition known in medical terms
as gastrointestinal atresia.
Gastrointestinal Atresia
Gastrointestinal atresia, which leads to defective intestine,
is a birth defect that affects approximately 1 out of every 1500 births.
An infant born with gastrointestinal atresia will have a
defective intestine and in either way, the pylorus, duodenum, jejunum, ileum or
colon could be affected, leading to the closure of the intestine, which will
lead to intestinal obstruction as being witnessed in Goodness’s case.
Symptoms associated with atresia
According to medical experts, the symptoms are sometimes
noticed before the birth of a baby and could be detected through the extra
amniotic fluid around the fetus in the womb.
The experts opined that this occurs because the baby’s
intestines don’t absorb the typical amount of fluid and for cases where it was
not detected during ultra sound, it would be noticed a day or two after birth
as was the case with Goodness.
Some of the symptoms include inability to stool, swollen
belly, vomiting with or without bile and anorexia, which is inability to eat,
leading to feeding complications which could lead to poor growth, again which
was noticed in Goodness.
Early detection often leads to treatment, which involves
stabilisation with tubes going into the abdominal cavity and the intestine to
expel gas ,IV fluid therapy and surgery.
A Mother’s Struggle
It was certainly not what she bargained for but Florence
stressed that she has no cause for regret. She said, “It’s not been easy but I
have never regretted giving birth to him.”
Even when the boy’s father deserted them at birth, she has
taken up the gauntlet to be both mother and father to her young son.
Faced with the task of cleaning up his son as well as taking
care of the financial responsibilities that comes with the treatment, Edokpayi
was said to have bailed out and hasn’t been seen since that fateful day he
disappeared.
Saddled with the responsibility of taking care of him, it
was no surprise Florence had difficulties in keeping a job down because of the
erratic nature of his illness.
To make ends meet though, she often engaged in petty trading
but was quick to shutdown for weeks unending, whenever a trip to the hospital
was scheduled, thereby loosing her customers.
At her wits end after the years of being a caregiver had
taken huge toll on her, yet with no solution from the doctors in Nigeria, the
mother alongside other sympathisers decided to look for an alternative abroad.
Speaking to THISDAY, she said, “I noticed this sickness from
birth and I took him back to the hospital where he was born and they referred
us to Ikeja.
“When we got there, they ran some tests and told us that
they would operate which they did. They put a tube in his stomach and he lived
with it for a whole year.
“The next year, we went back for them to remove the tube so
that he can excrete the normal way. But to our pains, after a few weeks, the
thing broke down and we had to take him back to the hospital for another
surgery.
“We were told that the only way to save his life was to
bring out his colon which they did and then we were discharged afterwards. But
we were supposed to go back for another surgery.”
She continued, “On that day, we got there only to learn that
the surgery had been shifted for another date. We came back on that date only
to be told that my son’s file was missing and that they couldn’t operate
without having an idea of what had been done so far.
“It took three years from the last surgery before a
temporary file was created and he was operated upon again. Last year, they
carried out another operation and they closed the colon.
“We were told that after three days he would excrete the
normal way but it wasn’t so rather, we noticed that the excreter had gone to
his bladder and was coming out in his urine.
“Of course, we rushed back to the hospital and they brought
out the colon again. So for now, he passes out feaces through the tubes and we
clean him up three to four times daily.
Perhaps to give him a semblance of a normal childhood,
Florence said she had to enrol him into school whilst they wait for financial
support to give him the medical attention he deserves.
A Cry for Help
After due consultations, two hospitals, Great Ormond Street
Hospital, London and BLK Super Speciality Hospital, India had both reviewed the
case and said they were capable of carrying out the operations successfully.
According to the information made available on his
save-a-soul page on the internet, the cost of the operations and the associated
expenses was pegged between $20,000 to $30,00, though the cost was said to be
cheaper in India.
According to the medical report made available to THISDAY,
the young child has been in great pains of recent and needs an urgent operation
to enable him function well.
The online team had said that the cost was to cover for the
expenses to take both mother and child outside. The appeal for help read;
“Almost five years after his birth and many operations, the boy cannot still
use the anus. We have decided to look for ways to raise fund to take him abroad
for medical treatment and operations.
“The boy had undergone several operations at the Ikeja
Hospital to correct the defect but without any success. The plan is to take him
and the mother to a hospital in India for the operations.
“Unfortunately, the cost of the medical trip is somewhat
expensive and hard to put together. We have been trying to run an appeal fund
campaign to raise the money by also creating a web page.”
Although the rainbow is yet to show for the young boy, the
mother called on Nigerians to come to her aid and ensure that he is given the
opportunity to live out his dreams.
A First Bank account.
No 3053986992 with the name Ihagbor C. Doris has been opened for him. Also, a
website, http://www.gofundme.com/4kwpm0,
to give further details of his condition, has been set up.
No comments:
Post a Comment