Just as Sonia Ekweremadu was on B.B.C.platform commenting on the lesson she has so far learned concerning the conviction of her parents on the kidney transplant saga, my memory flashed through to Mercy Echeburu, a 26 years old Mass communication graduate who died before help could reach her for a kidney transplant in India.
Life is just so dynamic, one day, you are in your house, the next ,your whole life is turned upside down. " Sonia lamented .
Mercy Echeburu who had just concluded her practical training at the Nigerian Television Authority, Kaduna was at the mercy of chronic kidney disease which ravaged her for more than three years and was placed on dialysis at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, ABUTH, Zaria, where she was coughing out about three hundred thousand naira monthly for her medical treatment.
A medical doctor at the Dialysis unit of ABUTH, Zaria who came across one of my books, "Journalists and the hand of God " and who knew I was in charge of packaging an in house magazine ,ABUTH TRUMPET for the hospital, brought my attention to her ordeal as her parents had spent fortune and were no longer in a position to meet her bills regularly, and particularly fund her medical trip to India for a kidney transplant.
I led a fund-raising campaign through the office of the Chairman of the board of directors of the hospital, Chief Shuaib Afolabi Oyedokun and all the members of the board donated their personal money.
That kept her alive for quite some time while I began another campaign through the newspapers. With the assistance of Mr. Femi Adesina , then the Editor In Chief of the Sun newspaper, who helped tremendously to ensure that my articles to aid her saw the light of the day, donations poured in for her directly through her U.B.A.bank account.
She was finally to seek transplant in India but the money was not easy to get at a bulk. When she put through to me a telephone call sometime in 2017 ,I didn't know that was going to be our last discussion. She was telling me that the money so far raised had sustained her on weekly dialysis but not enough to go for the transplant. When I offered to do a follow up and canvass for more through the media, her response was shocking:" Daddy, don't bother, most Nigerians have confused charity project with 419 inclinations and they barely distinguish the genuinely distressed ones from the fakes. You have, without even knowing me, tried your best for me; This may be our last discussion. Farewell. " I tried to persuade her against her position but the line went dead . A couple of days later, Mercy had given up the ghost ; And the lady died, head raised high.
It has been in the settled culture of my body language, seeking better life and succour for journalists and writers in distress that I have found my zeal and commitment in the past thirty years .
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OLALERE FAGBOLA.
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