A Kelechi was only about two weeks old when his parent
noticed some changes in him which included fast breathing, sleepless nights and
frequent fatigue amongst other things. He had problem ingesting good and had to
be fed through his nose. Hospitals they visited gave several diagnosis which
included Malaria, Fever and related ailments until General Health Center at
Randle, Surulere referred them to LUTH. On the 21st of October 2011, the result
of the diagnosis revealed that Kelechi had a grade 3/6 Systolic Murmur. Simpler
terms describes it as an unusual noise in the heart commonly known as a hole in
the heart. The Doctor that oversaw his case is Dr E.N Ekure, a consultant
Paediatrician with LUTH. The doctor said the baby uses one lung to carry our
four different funtions: Carries food, blood, water and air into the body.
That's how scary it can be.
According to LUTH, Kelechi would need to undergo a surgery in
India where the facilities for Cardiac surgeries are available. The doctors
said treatment has to be done on or before the 27th of December 2011 else the
child's current condition would escalate to other sides of this body. First,
one side of this body (the left side) would become paralysed. More recently
(this year), the child's parents where told that further delay of treatments
would overtime cause the sickness to spread to and possible damage the brain.
The doctor's words are surfacing gradually. He has almost
lost his left arm to some sort of paralysis (kind of bone related - Pictured
above) and uses some kind of rubber brace to support the hand. The parents have
being to the National Orthopaedic hospital, Igbobi and a corrective surgery was
advised where some kind of bone replacement therapy would be performed. Kelechi
can hardly stand up and does with the support of someone if he has to. He is
already developing what feels like a lump in his lower back by his waist.
Baby Kelechi now has regular crises, he passes out and could
become motionless at anytime. His heart acts like it pauses sometimes and beats
unreasonably faster at other times. According to the parents, they have a
standby "Okada man" that they can call at anytime to take them to the
hosipital and have had cases that has gone as late as 12-1am in the middle of
the night. For a while now, the child has been living on drugs and injections
which cost them upwards 14,000 naira a piece for a two-week long effect.The
presumption is that all these auxilliary problems would be corrected by the
surgery and time is seriously running out.
In 2011, a doctor from Thisday media certified Kelechi's
story and subsequently ran a call for help on Thisday newspapers (Wed, 16th
November 2011 publication - Page 46). A number of good willing Nigerians
responded and they were able to raise 49,000 naira. Summary: Kelechi was 2 weeks old when he
started being sick, his hand started going bad at 2 months old with visibile
damage at 6-9 months old. He was diagnosed of Systolic Murmur at the age of 8
months and today he is 1 year and 3 months old and nothing has being done.
What's next for the innocent child?
We have heard the most of it. There are pictures and sources
for you to confirm. Kelechi was advised to be referred for treatment on 27th
December 2011, this is June 2012. The catastrophe the doctors envisaged have
started showing up and this is not even the worst of it. We can't afford to
wait until its too late. He's just a kid and deserves the right to life just
like every one of us, that tells you the inspiration of this cause. We have
every intention to spread this cause far and wide and reach more people even
after Kelechi is fine and we hope you'll be part of it. Lend a helping hand and
let your money write your name in a place that would never be forgotten by
someone even if they don't know your name.
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