A beauty threatened by heart disease

Incapacitated by heart disease Wosilat, had after in and out of hospitals, spending virtually all from the family’s lean resources was diagnosed with an ailment known as Rheumatic Heart Disease with Stenosis, an ill-health which has rendered her practically incapacitated. Efforts to go to school Looking whisy-washy, she told Sunday Trust that it took her […]

Incapacitated by heart disease

Wosilat, had after in and out of hospitals, spending virtually all from the family’s lean resources was diagnosed with an ailment known as Rheumatic Heart Disease with Stenosis, an ill-health which has rendered her practically incapacitated.

Efforts to go to school

Looking whisy-washy, she told Sunday Trust that it took her seven years to study for a diploma in Mass Communication at the Dorben Polytechnic, Garang, near the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The course is designed for two years, but the peculiarity of Wosilat’s health condition dragged the course for seven years as she kept shifting and differing her course for a long while.   

According to Wosilat, “This ailment is major obstacle to my ambition to be a lawyer, even now that I have a diploma in Mass Communication, I would love to either continue with it or read Law, but this dream is becoming a wishful thinking because at the moment there is nothing I can do on my own. Even in the house, my parents and younger ones help me to do everything.

“I have frequent headaches, weakness of the body, chest pains and sweat profusely and faint most times if I attempt doing anything,” ailing Wosilat explained.

Father’s lament

Her father, Ibrahim A. O. Imam who is determined not to “waste away” on the account of her ill-health any more noted that the challenge at the moment is that she is unable to further owing to her deteriorating health situation.

Wosilat’s father who lost his job since 2005 said her daughter’s ailment had made life very difficult for the family as they had to cope with the health burden and the family up keep.

Wrong diagnosis

Imam maintained that for seven years, they had moved from one hospital to another without proper diagnose of Wosilat’s ailment until April this year.

“My daughter Wosilat is diagnosed with Mentral Stenosis at the Abuja University Teaching Hospital (AUTH), a condition that requires  open heart surgery. We had spent the whole things we have before we got to the level that we were told that only heart surgery can save the life of the girl,” he stated.

N3 million needed, for surgery

He said as a retiree with little or no means of income, “I am left with no option than to seek financial assistance for the surgery in India. The cost of the surgery in an Indian hospital is estimated at between N2 and N3 million and I have never saved N200, 000 all my life not to think of N1 million.

Wosilat’s father who appealed to spirited individuals, organizations and groups to come to their rescue, stated that her child needed immediate operation in a hospital in New Delhi India for her to live.

He said the agent of the Delhi Hospital in Abuja, Apollo Hospital told them the cost of the surgery in the principal hospital in India.

He said the cost of the operation to replace the dead valve in     her daughter’s heart was approximated at $11,500 with 10 days stay in the hospital as well as another one week post discharge requirement to stay in a hotel in New Delhi.

Trouble started at birth

Narrating the travail of Wosilat, the mother, Ashia Ibrahim told Sunday Trust that the history of her daughter’s ailment dated to the time of her birth when she was noticed to be unusually small despite the fact that she was not premature.

She said right from Wosilat’s childhood days, it has been one ailment to another. “Today, it is malaria, tomorrow it is typhoid fever and we keep buying medicine from one hospital to another. She never had peace one day!” Mrs Ibrahim said.

She said at high school, her daughter was always at the sick bay and she was usually rushed home when the ailment became severe, explaining that each time the attack comes, the girl collapses or slumps and sweat profusely.

Despite all this, she said her daughter, being a strong willed person never jokes with her academic activities until the last few years when it has become absolutely difficult for her to cope.

The emotions

Wosilat’s mother, who came close to tears while narrating the daughter’s ordeals, said, “We are tired of this trouble. I am a petty trader and the father is now jobless and we have five other children, some are still in school. We do not know what to do, we are praying to God to touch people or organizations to help our daughter to live.”

She said there was nothing they had not done to save the life of the ailing girl. Wosilat’s mother revealed that they have gone to media houses appealing to the general public to come to their aid but that only their neighbours responded and what they got from them was N70, 000 which has been used to buy drugs that sustain her.

The condition of the girl according to her was bad as she is completely incapacitated at present.