By Jude Atupulazi
It’s often said that the healthy do not know what God has done for them until they fall sick. The story of this young man, Mr Hyacinth Abuchi Nwafor, best illustrates this. From a promising young man, looking ahead to a rosy future as an undergraduate student of Pharmacy in the University of Jos, Nwafor’s greatest need today is not to eat food but to regain full health. He tells his story below:
My name is Pharmacist Hyacinth Abuchi Nwafor. I was reading Pharmacy until after 300 level. I woke up one morning to pray by 5am and started hearing a strange noise in both ears. In the morning of that day, I speedily rushed to the University Health Services of the University of Jos. The doctor I met did not give me any medication but referred me to UNIJOS Teaching Hospital (JUTH) where I consulted a specialist ENT doctor, but there was no therapeutic benefit.
After three months of the treatment with antibiotics, because the doctors thought it might be a bacterial infection, we went on ASUU strike nationwide and I was privileged to be in the East. I went to UNTH-Enugu but there was no improvement. And then, I went to UNTH-Nnewi, my home state, where they kept on treating me with chemical drugs but it was not up to three months and ASUU strike was called off then.
My ENT doctors told me to continue medication in our University Teaching Hospital, (JUTH). Because the doctors in JUTH usually referred me to Bigham University Teaching Hospital (BUTH/Jankwano), Jos, for Audiometry test. It was not available in JUTH then.
I got admitted in BUTH-Jos, to ease my pain and reduce my inconveniences of moving from Lamingo to Jankwano. Also, BUTH had very competent consulting ENT doctors. They kept on treating/monitoring my ears but my ears kept deteriorating as shown through my periodic Audiometry tests, to the extent that I couldn’t hear a loud voice again due to severe vertigo and tinnitus, but more of tinnitus then.
I went to the National Ear Care Centre in Kaduna State and D-Medical Centre, to mention but a few. The prescription recommended in all these places could not solve my problem. The doctors in JUTH recommend CT-Scan and MRI for me to aid the diagnosis. After CT-Scan and MRI, the doctors in JUTH diagnosed the disease with American doctors that were coming to JUTH once in a while as neuro-fibromatosis, a medical condition which had made me lose my hearing ability due to the presence of tumors in both ears.
The tumors needed to be removed and then cochlear implant inserted to enable me to hear and balance. I graduated from UNIJOS four years ago as deaf pharmacist and managed to do my internship with the Anambra State Hospitals Management Board so that I could write my PEP. (PEP – pre-registration exam for pharmacists) to become a licensed pharmacist. I wrote the exam at UNN and passed, but doing nothing at home since three years ago.
The University Management asked the USA doctors to make the estimate of the cost of my medication outside Nigeria because there was no machinery to remove the tumors in my ears. They went back to the U.S. then and gave the estimated cost to be $100, 000 (hundred thousand U.S. dollars) but medication is higher than that in the U.S. So, they asked me to go to India for the surgery.
I am presently in a very bad situation now (complete deafness with severe vertigo). Sometimes I fall into water and sometimes I fall into open fire. I am now paralyzed due to severe vertigo. I can’t even stand up and urinate or bathe. I must sit down in a balanced seat. My left side from my head to toe has been paining me due to severe vertigo.
I always buy a white liniment every two days and apply in my painful side with analgesic drugs to relieve the pain. But all to no avail. I have taken all sorts of pain killers, but all to no avail. I hardly feed. I feed from hand to mouth. Sometimes, I fall like an epileptic patient inside water or open fire. My family has disowned me (a licensed pharmacist) because their aim of training me at UNIJOS has not been achieved.
Presently, I am appealing to all Nigerians to come to my help, especially my indefatigable Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, and all the past Governors of Anambra State, especially Mr Peter Gregory Obi; the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly and the Deputy Speaker of Anambra State, Senator Dr. Victor Umeh; and all the senators from Anambra State.
I am also appealing to Hon Dr. Mrs. Cordelia Ego Uzoezie; Engr Prince Arthur Eze; Prof. Mrs. Stella Chinyere Okunna; Dr. Obinna Iyiegbu (Obi Cubana); and all the prominent people from Anambra State, as well as the UNIJOS Alumni Association and well-meaning Nigerians, to come to my rescue as I am in a very bad situation now.
I am from a very poor background and my father is late, while my mother is aged and sick and my only sister is not well to do. Therefore, I solicit your help to enable me to pay for the surgeries. The travels, surgeries, feeding, accommodation and post-surgery stay were estimated to cost $100, 000 (hundred thousand us dollars).
This condition has been a huge set back of my dreams of being a renowned pharmacist, who through practice, hopes to contribute my quota to the very many needs of health care in Nigeria. My account number is this 2029466612 UBA, Nwafor Hyacinth Abuchi, 07084269084 (whatsapp only)
In case you want to make direct donation, no amount is small please. Thanks and god bless you all.
