Mother of Two Needs N15 Million Kidney Transplant to Stay Alive

By  Emmanuel Ugwu

For Mrs. Florence Ngozi Eluwa, pains have become second nature. The 57 year old mother of two doesn’t even know if and when she would be free from the pains ravaging her body. She has been enduring it for over a year now.

Mrs. Eluwa found herself in this pathetic condition due to kidney problem with complications which requires that she must undergo a kidney transplant procedure to stay alive. But the financial cost is well beyond her family as almost every money that comes in goes into payment for drugs and medical bills.

“We need help from public spirited Nigerians and organisations” pleaded Mr. Chibuike Benjamin Eluwa, the husband of the sick woman. “My wife has kidney problem and she needs a kidney transplant” to stay alive.

With worried look pensive voice the embattled husband and father narrated how the family has been struggling to keep the mother of the house alive since she was diagnosed with kidney disease.

According to him, the signs of the ailment started manifesting in May 2020 when Mrs. Eluwa, a computer operator at a mission school started having “unusual health issues”.

Initially the family thought it was an “ordinary sickness” but it turned out to be a serious one when the sick woman was taken to the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba.

It was there that medical diagnosis revealed a case of high blood pressure and advanced diabetes. Her legs were already swollen and her blood count was low.

After undergoing treatment which included transfusion with four pints of blood, Mrs. Eluwa was discharged on June 2, 2020 but by September her condition degenerated to the extent that she was finding it difficult to breathe.

She was taken back to ABSUTH and it was discovered that her kidney was not functioning well hence the swollen legs. Her body was not getting rid of liquid waste as it should. She was discharged from the hospital in October 2020 after undergoing treatment.

Barely 24 hours after returning from admission at ABSUTH, Mrs. Eluwa started experiencing breathlessness and the family decided to seek medical to seek help in private health facility.

It was at the Methodist Hospital Uzuakoli, a mission hospital, that an expatriate doctor diagnosed the patient with kidney failure and recommended dialysis.

Since then, Mrs. Eluwa has been undergoing dialysis. Her medical report from the Beatitudes Dialysis and Kidney Care Center, dated April 5, 2021, shows that the patient “is currently dialysis dependent”.

The family from Umuahia South Local Government is really groaning under the weight of financial cost of “renal care by continuous hemodialysis at least three times a week”.

Each session with other necessary occasional blood transfusion costs about N45,000 making a total of N135,000 per week. Not only that, the patient also needs a permanent tunnel neckline Vascular Access for continuous hemodialysis at a cost of N180,000.

Both the patient and her husband evoked pity in their helpless situation. They don’t know how long they could hang on without the needed financial support.

Mr. Eluwa is a technologist and lectures at Temple Polytechnic Aba, a private institution. He lamented that he is financially exhausted as all his meagre earnings goes into medical bill, adding that family members have equally assisted the much they could.

As a way out of the dialysis dependent life and its attendant cost the doctor handling Mrs. Eluwa’s case has recommended that the patient should consider a possible kidney transplant. “She currently cannot continue hemodialysis and other renal care on account of serious financial constraints,” the doctor wrote in a medical report dated April 12, 2021.

According to him, “the projected cost for her possible transplant, including donor/recipient screening, surgery, donor pay and post transplant needs is about N15 million”.

At the family’s modest house located at the Federal Housing Estate, Ogbor Hill, Aba, Mrs. Eluwa keeps groaning in pains. “I earnestly ask people to help me come out of this condition. I can’t sleep, I can’t breathe well, I can’t even sit down very well,” she said in very low tone. The patient is really struggling to stay alive and needs URGENT help to win the battle.

Mr. Chibuike Eluwa can be reached on his GSM line: 08039476713. Acct. Details: Eluwa Chibuike Benjamin, 3096945336, First Bank.