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Spinal cord injury patient seeks lifeline

By Odita Sunday
20 January 2017   |   3:15 am
Chukwuemeka Ibenezim, 17, did not know that danger was lurking around the corner when he set out on May 1, 2016 to play football with his mates.
Ibenezim

Ibenezim

Chukwuemeka Ibenezim, 17, did not know that danger was lurking around the corner when he set out on May 1, 2016 to play football with his mates.

After hours of running around the football pitch in Badagary, the teenager and his mates took a stroll to a nearby swimming pool to take their bath.

Emeka took a deep dive into the water. His mates waited several minutes for him to come out, but he did not show up. Some of his mates even clapped thinking that he was showing off his swimming skills

But sensing that something was wrong, his younger brother, Emmanuel, moved swiftly to the spot where Emeka was last seen, behold; the teenager was motionless and had almost drowned under the water.

Quickly, his mates tried to revive him, but at the end, they discovered that Emeka could not move and had lost control of the use of his legs and hands.

His friends narrated what transpired to his parents.

Quickly, his father rushed him to Badagry General hospital from where they were told that he had a spinal cord Injury.

The x-ray showed that he might have hit his head on the floor of the pool.

He was in Badagry General hospital for one month before he was transferred to a private hospital at Agbara.

While at the private hospital, Emeka who had dreamt of becoming a medical doctor developed bedsores as a result of his inability to change position on the bed.

He was subsequently transferred to the Military Hospital, Yaba.

Eight months after the unfortunate incident, Emeka has not been able to recover. His health condition is said to be getting worse everyday.

A medical team has, however, advised his parents to take him to India where experts could handle spinal cord injury.
His parents, are however, not financially buoyant for such foreign medical treatment.

“I ask, with most sense of humility, that members of the public should come to my assistance. They say it will cost me N10 million to be treated in India. Donation should be paid to Ibenezim Chukwuemeka Ochefije, First Bank, Account No. 3105489299,” the teenager said.

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