Stephen Goodluck, a 13-year-old boy’s life dreams and aspirations are fast crumbling before his eyes. He experienced discomfort on his right hip after returning from the farm last year, and has since been in pains and unable to move around. Though he grieves about his predicament, Stephen is more distressed that he has not been going to school and fears this could put paid to his ambition of becoming a medical doctor. Innocent Duru reports.
STEPHEN Goodluck lay mournful on the family’s antiquated bed with tears running down his eyes like raindrops as the mother ushered in our correspondent into their amorphous mud building at Agodo, a remote area in Eredo LCDA, Epe, Lagos.
“Mummy, mummy, I want to go to school, I want to go to school,” he said, sobbing as he immediately held his right knee which, from the way he reacted, sent a sharp pain travelling through him.
“Sorry, my son,” the mother said, cuddling him as tears gathered in her eyes. When the pain subsided, Stephen managed to sit down to relive his ordeal.
“I was a pupil of Oke-Magba Junior High School. I was about to move to JSS2 when my problem started. It all started on May 29, 2021. I went to the farm and when I came back, I noticed that my pelvic area was hurting. My mother gave me a painkiller and I felt relieved. The following day, I went to school but before the end of the day, I noticed that I couldn’t walk again. I had to be taken home on a motorcycle. I feel bad that I have not been going to school. I cry each time I see my colleagues going to school. I am worried about my condition but more worried that I have been out of school. My ambition is to be a doctor but … (sobs).”
Bemoaning her son’s plight, the mother said they had taken him everywhere for treatment to no avail. “At the beginning, we took him to a native orthopedic doctor but they didn’t see any problem with his hip. Later, our pastor took us to Eredo Health Centre from where we were referred to General Hospital, Epe. At the General Hospital, they checked him and treated him for malaria. After that, his health got worse. We later took him to a native doctor who told us that his hip had shifted. We were spending money in all these places to no avail.
“We later went to a private clinic where we were told that he had just a minute to live. They had to quickly give him two pints of blood which helped his condition to some extent. At a point, if you pinched any part of his body, he would not feel it. The private hospital later referred us to Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH). They gave us a bill of about N50, 000 but we didn’t have money to pay anymore and had to leave. We started giving him pain killers and native medicines to help his condition.”
Because of the severity of the pain, she said “Stephen couldn’t walk; he couldn’t lie down or sit. I was always carrying him on my chest to sleep. If you gave him sleeping pills, he would not sleep. Best he would nap for a few minutes and get up in pains. He would hold the leg and be screaming. If he wanted to defecate, I would have to put him on a potty and hold him to myself. We have sold everything seeking a solution for him. We sold our television, generator and my husband’s motorcycle and borrowed money from different places. The money we realised from the harvest we made from our farm went into his treatment.”
Interjecting, the father said: “I fainted when the doctor said he had just a minute to live. I was crying and crying. I cry every time I see my son in pains.”
Continuing, the wife said: “When my husband fainted, I was torn between lifting Stephen and carrying my husband up. I was confused and overwhelmed but had to summon courage to rise to the occasion. Stephen last attended school in May 2021 (15 months ago). He has missed four terms due to the illness.”
Mother’s passionate plea
More than anything, the mother wants her son back in school and is therefore calling on the government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid and help get her son back on his feet. “This will be more feasible if the leg is attended to medically,” she said.
A Public Health Physician, Dr Rotimi Adesanya who has picked interest in Stephen’s condition, said: “I first met Stephen during one of the medical outreaches organised by the Critical Rescue Mission earlier in the year in Agodo. He complained of not being able to walk and how he limped for close to a year. The mother said the leg was itching him and thereafter that he could not walk. He was said to have been taken to a private hospital in Epe where he received two pints of blood and was thereafter referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) but could not go due to financial constraint and the exorbitant cost of transportation.
“I ordered blood tests and genotype for him but a test result revealed that he is an AS. There is a need for experts to review this. He needs to do an MRI which costs about N80, 000. Stephen will also need further management by a multidisciplinary team comprising family physicians/paediatricians, orthopaedic surgeons, haematologists and child psychologists.”
Stephen’s mother can be reached on: 08057646907.