Help me to walk, Samuel 14, begs good samaritans

“My happiest movement in life will be the day my two legs touch the ground and I stand straight and walk around without the wheelchair or any assistance from my father, mother or my elder brother. That day will be the greatest and happiest day in all of my life,” the young handsome Samuel Jude Momodu, told The Guardian while he settled on his wheelchair in his father’s residence in Yola, Adamawa State.

Young Samuel solicits assistance of good-spirited Nigerians to enable him travel to Ghana, where he is referred for treatment.

Samuel was born on June 6 2005, but has not put his legs to use. His mother, Dupe Momodu a teacher at the Staff School of Modibbo Adama University of Technology Yola, said six months after his birth, she noticed that Samuel was not crawling, so she took him to University Teaching Hospital Ibadan (UTH), where he commenced his medical journey.

“From UTH Ibadan to Oluyoro Hospital; to National Hospital Abuja and Federal Medical Centre, Yola, but there was no correct diagnosis and solution. In 2007, I was advised to do an MRI scan for him, which we did and the result said that he had scoliosis.” 

According to her she moved Samuel to the National Orthopaedic Centre Enugu State and there they were referred to a scoliosis clinic called Focos Hospital in Ghana.

The Guardian sighted the referral letter from the National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu, introducing Samuel to FOCOS Orthopaedic Hospital, Pangtany, Ghana. Drafted on August 2 2016 and signed by Dr. N.E. Duru, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, it referred the teenager for further treatment of “severe deformity of the spine and generalized loss of power in all four limbs.”

The letter added that “a diagnosis of neuromuscular thoracolumbar scoliosis and we need to refer him to you for further management.”

An acknowledgment letter by FOCOS Orthopaedic Hospital, Ghana, dated April 11 2017 put the hospital charges for the treatment of Samuel at $25, 360.00.

Samuel is pleading with kind-hearted Nigerians to help him to walk.