The chance of survival of a patient who
is suffering from a kidney disease, Tochi Mbonu, now hangs by a thread
after she became deaf due to the delay in a kidney transplant operation.....
PUNCH Metro learnt that 31-year-old Tochi, a graduate of the Benue State University, had been on dialysis for the past three years.
Her mother, Ndidi, told our
correspondent on the telephone that she and Tochi were stranded in
India, where they had hoped to carry out the operation.
She explained that a non-governmental
organisation, Dignity for the Helpless Foundation, which promised to
raise N11m for the operation, disappointed them.
She said to make ends meet, she resorted to selling beans cake (moin-moin) in India to raise money for her daughter’s dialysis, until the foundation would have a change of heart.
She added that her daughter had gone deaf due to a side effect of the dialysis.
She said, “My daughter has been down
with kidney failure for the past three years. She spent one year in
Nigeria and we have been together in India for two years now.
“A friend introduced us to the NGO,
headed by Pastor Samuel Brown. He came with his team to interview us in
our house. We said we needed money to get Tochi to India for the
transplant operation and we both reached an agreement to raise N11m.
“He said he would publish it in
newspapers and get broadcast stations involved as well. A broadcast
media raised the funds with which we travelled.
“Before we came here (India), he told me
we would open a joint account so that I would know how money was coming
in. But he didn’t open any joint account. Instead, he opened a personal
account. When I asked him why, he said it was a last minute change by
his organisation to reduce conflict over the money.
“For the past two years, he has only
given me N1.4m. He sent N30,000 every two weeks. Now, Tochi is deaf
because of too much dialysis. I don’t have money again. I am a widow. I
have spent all I have. I now sell moin-moin so Tochi can survive. Instead of three times dialysis, we can only do two per week.”
Tochi, who chatted with our correspondent via a social media application, Whatsapp, said her problem started sometime in 2014 when she had a fever and went to a pharmacy to get a drug.
She said she never knew that she was given a wrong drug, which affected her body system.
“On a particular Friday, my mum sent me
to a bank to withdraw some money and there was a queue. I had to wait
for my turn. I did not know how I found myself at the security post.
When I asked what happened, they said I passed out.
“I later gave them a neighbour’s phone
number, who came to pick me. When we got home, the neighbour told my mum
what happened to me.
“I went to the room to relax; I did not
know how I got to the hospital where I was unconscious for three days.
When I woke up and asked my mum what happened to me, she said I
collapsed again. I was told I had no blood and I had already taken three
pints of blood. After some treatment, the doctor called my mum and said
it seemed I have a kidney failure,” she added.
She explained that a test at a military
hospital in Yaba, Lagos State, confirmed the doctor’s suspicion and also
showed that both kidneys were affected.
After being on dialysis at Clinix
Healthcare, Ilupeju, she said an Indian nurse recommended a kidney
transplant, adding that her family was introduced to Brown’s NGO along
the line.
“We appealed for funds through social
media, radio stations, TV stations, my secondary school friends and
other well wishers, including the governor of Anambra State in 2015.
“We campaigned for N11m. Mr. Brown said
he would give me N6m out of the money. For two years now, it’s only
N1,440,000 that he has given us.
“When I got to India, I had a lot of
complications. They realised I was given wrong drugs. My mum has been
waiting patiently for over six months that Mr. Brown promised to give us
the remaining balance for my transplant. He has failed to give us the
money and I don’t know what to do. He is not calling us again,” she
said.
Tochi, who appealed to Nigerians for
help, said she was in a desperate need for the transplant to avert
further complications after losing her sense of hearing.
When contacted, Brown said he didn’t know the balance in the account, saying he would need to contact his bank for details.
He said, “We have not reached N11.5m. To
know the amount we have raised, I will need to go to the bank tomorrow
(Monday). For now, I can’t give it to you. We were trying to raise the
money to ensure that the operation was carried out. At a point, I
started having issues with the foundation and I stopped it. When I
called her, she said she cannot ascertain anything until I raise the
money. So, when I tried to raise the money through a programme by the
foundation, it failed to hold. I told her to give me this month, I will
get back to her and the operation will be carried out.”
When our correspondent asked to know how much he last saw in the account, he said the money was not up to N3m.
He said he was not the sole signatory to
the account, adding that he needed to call another member of the
foundation to go with him to the bank.
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