‘Please don’t let our daughter go blind’

However, few days later, the little girl’s left eye had swollen and a substance covered it. When Mrs. Abdulganiyu Yusuf, Mariam’s mother, discovered the development, she returned to the same hospital for further treatment. To her dismay, she discovered that the hospital was on strike with nobody to attend to Mariam. One of the patients […]

However, few days later, the little girl’s left eye had swollen and a substance covered it. When Mrs. Abdulganiyu Yusuf, Mariam’s mother, discovered the development, she returned to the same hospital for further treatment. To her dismay, she discovered that the hospital was on strike with nobody to attend to Mariam. One of the patients who also came to receive treatment at the hospital saw Mariam’s condition and advised that Mariam be taken to Ayo Bello Memorial Eye Centre, Ilorin which the mother did. Doctors at the hospital informed that result of the test carried out on the girl showed the only solution was surgery to which the parents agreed. But even after the surgery, there was no significant improvement as the eye continued to swell even surpassing its size before the surgery.

Mariam’s ailment and pain persisted such that she had to be taken to University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital with the hope of getting an improvement. At the UITH, radiological report issued on May 5th 2011 showed “there is a round isodense non-enhancing mass (3×3.5cm) anterior to the left ball, which will cost more money.

Mariam’s mum disclosed that “already, over N200,000.00 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) had been spent on Mariam’s problem and now we have exhausted all we have and the treatment has stopped.” Mrs. Yusuf, a photographer, said she had to sell all her belongings including her two cameras to pay for her daughter’s medical expenses and still more is required for a possible solution to the problem. “We are told at the hospital that if urgent attention was not given to the affected eye, the problem may affect the other eye, too.”

Mariam’s mum tearfully added: “Part of the money we spent on the first surgery that was carried out came from the loan I took from the cooperative society that I belong to and now I don’t know where to get more money for the treatment. Every time I see my daughter’s eye, I weep.” Maryam’s father, Mr. Yusuf, appealed to well-meaning Nigerians to come to the aid of his daughter. We can be reached through these GSM numbers: Alhaj Ganiyu Yusuf 08035719784, 07062209530,” he said.