Akajiaku, Kidney Patient Needs N18m for Transplant
In the corner of a gadget-ridden highbrow hospital in Abuja, machines are whining while others are humming; the atmosphere is solemn while the attendant warns that all gadgets should be switched off, often darting from one blinking machine to the other. On the narrow bed is an emaciated feature of a once robust and bubbly young man, drained to the point of weakness that his strength only allows him to mutter words after a measured intake of breath. Even at that, the whizzing sound that escapes from his lungs as he exerts efforts to utter the near inaudibles bespeaks of the vanity of all souls.
Akajiaku Candid Chibueze, a media practitioner and consultant before he was confined to the arduous state of health he has been fighting to free himself from: organ failures. A closer look shows that the dialysis line on his arm has made it look smaller than the other arm as if they belonged to different persons.
As he made to turn to one side of the bed for a much deprived comfort, the attendant darts in and at the same time barks at him, “if the dialysis line shifts, your blood will clot and you will be dead in seconds and if you survive, you will become vegetable”. At that, I protested the unfeeling attitude of the attendant who threatened to walk me out of the room.
Seething in anger, knowing that Akajiaku must have been passing through the same process every time he needed dialysis to free his organs of toxic body fluids his kidney would have processed if they were still functioning, I swallowed and let him have his way as all care givers do in Nigeria; afterall one writer once asserted that “every talent has its own prerogatives”.
When he was done with the dialysis and knowing he would come again as the procedure has to be done twice weekly at N40,000 per dialysis, making it N80,000 weekly, I approached the caregiver and asked him the way out. For the first time, a smile creased his smooth face before he launched into a long technical explanation. When he felt he was boring me with the inanities, he asked if I was following, to which I also intentionally muttered some incoherencies for him to decipher what he willed form it.
Akajiaku’s case is a testimony that God still wants him to be alive as he narrated of his earlier experiences with a particular dialysis center. Then, “I was going for dialysis once a week but I noticed that I was not having any relief, instead, things were getting worse. It went on like that for some time till I complained to a friend in Lagos.
“My friend contacted a Doctor friend, Dr. Abuchi Okaro in St. Elizabeth hospital, London who demanded for the results of my tests which we sent to him. He raised the alarm that the results were not showing that anything was being removed from my system through dialysis and recommended we change to another place which turned out to have saved me or I would have been dead.
“Other Doctors he analysed my results with opined that the center apparently was economising consumables for the procedure and by then, I had exhausted my resources and was relying on friends and goodwill to continue the procedure. When I went to another hospital they recommended for me in Abuja here, I felt a lot of relief after each procedure but by them, I was told there had been some damage which would require transplant.
“The cost of the transplant has been put at N18 million and I have exhausted and sold everything I have except my wife who is taking care of me just to stay alive. Now I have to go to Nigerians for help or where do I get the N18 million for the transplant? So I am appealing to Nigerians to please help me to stay alive since there are chances that I can bounce back and live to be useful to myself and others”.
The explanation appeared to have drained Akajiaku physically and emotionally while on the corner of his eyes there were trickles of tears he fought hard to hide from me without success. By then, his eyes had turned slightly red while he constantly dabbed it with a white handkerchief. By this time, the attendant had ordered the wife out of the room as she was crying profusely and asking us to help her appeal to Nigerians for help that would enable her husband to “live again”.
Akajiaku hails from Okpofe, Ezihinihite, Mbaise in Imo State and studied Mass Communication at Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra State. He had a stint with the media before he struck out on his own to float SaintWealth where he was the Chief Executive Officer.
All donations are expected to be paid into his account with details: Akajiaku Chibueze C; Fidelity Bank Account Number 6239205853. We hereby appeal to all Nigerians to help donate to enable him to have the transplant. He can be reached on 08023145171 and 08050513069 while his wife Chinasa can be reached on 07033485745.