Seven-year-old Stephanie Chukwuezi needs N9million to survive Relapsed Leukemia.
She is to undergo surgery at Apollo hospitals in India.
Her father, Martin Chukwuezi, who brought the girl to the headquarters of The Nation Newspaper with the mother and siblings, said Stephanie’s sickness began with sneezing, cough and catarrh in June 2013 when she was 3-years and eight months old.
He said that she was given anti-biotic at St Nicolas hospital, adding that she also did Complete Blood Count (CPC) test which revealed that her ‘Platelet count’ was low.
“We also did a ‘bone marrow count’ test, which cost N60, 000. The result showed that she had ‘Acute neoplastic leukemia’.
“The doctor advised us to take her to Indian for the surgery, which we did in January 2014.
“I spent N7million, including treatment, air ticket, transportation and accommodation cost for six months in India.
“She returned from India in July 2014 and continued with ‘chemotherapy’ once in three months.
“She also does medical tests and takes injection every two weeks, from July 2014 till February 2016 when the treatment ended. It costs us about N1million.
“She went back to India in December 2015 for another checkup which cost also N1million.”
Chukwuezi said coping with the mounting bills has been tough since he lost his job in April 2016.
The sickness, according to him, has affected her education and normal activities.
“She is always lying down. She complains of eye pain and she often times gets tired and feels weak.
“She can’t eat as she used to. She has lost weight and has to be fed often times. She easily gets irritated and complains of pains all over her body.
“I am calling on Nigerians to assist me so that I can take my daughter to India for the treatment,” he pleaded.
Donations to Stanbic IBTC bank: Martin Chukwuezi,
Stanbic IBTC bank 004591567.
He’s reachable on 08033167025 and 08188415667.