By Friday Idachaba
Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has appealed to the state government, Corporate Organisations and public spirited individuals to come to the aid of a mother of two, Mrs Faith Attah, who needs N18 million to undergo brain tumour surgery in India.
Alhaji Adeiza Momoh-Jimoh, Chairman of Kogi Council of NUJ made the appeal when the 30-year-old graduate of Maths and Statistics, along with her husband and children called on him at the NUJ Press Centre, Lokoja.
Momoh-Jimoh personally made a passionate appeal to Gov. Yahaya Bello whom he described as gender-friendly and a friend of the nobody, to, in his usual characteristic, help to save the life of Mrs Attah.
“I am optimistic that if the Governor gets to know about the plight of Mrs Attah, he will assist. He has in many ways come as a rescuer to many in such conditions”, he said.
The NUJ Chairman also called on Corporate Organizations including Dangote Cement, Obajana; West African and BN Ceramics among others located in the state to as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS), help save the life of Mrs Attah.
Narrating her ordeal to newsmen during the visit, Mrs Attah, apparently in pains, said her problem started four years ago when she developed severe migraine which lingered and made her to visit many private and public hospitals with different diagnosis.
She said, her condition got worse by every passing day as it got to a point where she had to remove a tooth suspected to be the cause of the migraine as prescribed by the medical practitioners.
Mrs Attah who had remained unemployed and a complete housewife after her youth service added that sometime last year, her right eye was crossed and an opthalmologist recommended an eye glass for her, yet, the situation persisted.
She added that her health continued to deteriorate to the point that her body became numb and a neurologist recommended Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan.
The MRI scan according to her, revealed a growing tumor of about three centimetres (3cm) in her brain, for which the neurologist referred her to India, which has the capability to handle the surgery.
According to her, the scan result reveals that the tumor is wrapped around so many nerves in her brain and required complicated operation which most hospitals in the country lack the equipment to handle.
She added that the neurologist advised her to go to India which has modern equipment, such as Gama Knife and Cyber Knife needed to perform peculiar surgeries like hers.
“We contacted an Indian hospital, which gave approximate cost of N18M to cover the the surgery and other expenses”, she said.
Addressing Journalists, her husband, Mr Ibrahim Attah, a staff of Kogi State Polytechnic, speaking amidst sobs, said his life savings had been exhausted going from one hospital to another in the effort to save her life.
Attah appealed for assistance saying their two male children, Alpha, 7 and Nasaya, 4, were at the point of being dropped from school for his inability to pay their school fees.
He appealed to Nigerians to help save the life of his wife, saying that with his paltry salary, he would not be able to raise the N18 million adding that he had exhausted all avenues for borrowing and there was little he could do.
Meanwhile, Mrs Eunice Abogun, Executive Director, Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI), has lend her voice to the passionate appeal to Governor Yahaya Bello.
Agbogun who described Governor Yahaya Bello as a compassionate and gender-sensitive Governor urged him to Wade into matter and help raise the money to enable Mrs Attah undergo the surgery in India.
She disclosed that the couple had written to her Organisation (CPI) for assistance saying that the organisation lacked the financial muscle but believed that Gov. Yahaya Bello as a brother and father of the state with other public-spirited Nigerians would wipe away her tears.
Meanwhile, all helps should be made into the account number.
Union Bank 0017667730, Ojone Jibrin Faith. (Ends)