Little David Alban Opara was born with a defect that blocked his urinary track. Determined not to allow that defect to ruin his future his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Alban Opara sought help at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH) as soon as they noticed that there was a problem.
That effort became a waste at last as the wrong surgery on little David who was barely five in 2007, later damaged his kidney.
However luck and destiny smiled on him as his mother donated her kidney and a transplant was done in Delhi, India. Back home, David who had suddenly changed his mind from being a doctor in future gulps as much as two litters of water without fear of a negative effect on him. Just back from India after a two months sojourn, David’s mother told Saturday Sun the story from the beginning.
A long tortuous road
Mrs. Opara recalled that the history of David’s problem started when he was three. Initially, when they discovered that his pant was always wet, the family assumed that David would out grow it. They were however alarmed when they discovered that it was more often.
“I took him to Randle Health Centre, Surulere and they asked us to go that nothing was wrong with him. The nurse assured me that he would definitely over-grow it. It continued and we tried our best to manage it, by requesting that he uses the urinal more often.”
The family believed in the doctor’s report until he was five years. “One Sunday in April 2007, he woke up with high fever. I administered first aid and still asked his sister to take him to church. Instead of responding to the treatment, he started getting worse to the point that he vomited thrice that his sister hurriedly took him home. When it was obvious that he was not getting any better, David’s mother took him back to the health centre. “They conducted series of tests, which lasted for weeks. It was at the end of the test that they told us that there is a probability that his kidney had been affected. They advised us to take him to LUTH to see a specialist. That was on April 30. With the reference letter from the hospital, they started investigation again. At the end of the tests, we were told that he had urinary track obstruction (blocked bladder) and needed to be operated upon. We were told that his bladder was too small and can only contain 60ml of fluid at a time which was the reason he urinates so often.”
Throwing more light on how the complications started, Mrs. Opara recalled some of the irregularities that came to play during the surgery in 2007. “In 2007, we were given May 29, 2007 as the date for the surgery but when we got there, the doctor told us that he was not ready for any surgery on Democracy Day. He insisted that we should go home and return two weeks later. Then he was wearing a catheter, so we were told to still run some tests and buy a new catheter that would be changed at the next appointment.
When we returned two weeks later, the urologist we met was not interested in attending to us, he only asked us to go and come back in a week’s time. He never cared to examine the result of the test nor change the catheter. I reminded him of the need to change the catheter and he dismissed us with an excuse that adults wear it for a month, there was no reason why a kid cannot use it for more than a month. We were to return after two weeks. A week after the last appointment, his fever came back this time with pains all over his body. I ran back to see an urologist. The new doctor that saw us after examining the baby requested that he be admitted as he already had infections. In one of the cases, they gave him augmentin that nearly took his life.
I called the nurse who told me that they do not have credit to call the technician to bring oxygen; my saving grace was that I had airtime on my phone. The technician was called and my boy was placed on oxygen for days. He was immediately moved to the theater as his case had almost caused problem between the urology department and paediatrics. The problem was that paediatric warned them that they would bear the consequence alone as they had treated David and handed him over to the urologist for surgery.
“In July, he was operated on and we were assured that the excessive urinating would stop. Weeks and months passed by and he kept urinating as often as it was before the surgery.”
Worried, they returned David to the hospital but the doctors assured her that it would stop. “The urologist told us not to worry. But I have to chip in that we owe his teacher and mates at the Tonia International school, Coker, Surulere. They cuddled him rather than abandon him in his state. By the grace of God, he was also doing well in school. When the doctors kept reassuring us that he would stop urinating with time, we believed in them and managed the situation from 2007 till sometime in 2010 when his predicament took another dimension. Unknown to us the surgery in 2007, instead of correcting the defect led to complications.”
False hope
The family continued to manage the situation and encouraged David until sometime in May 2010; he came back with his clothes dry and clean. He excitedly informed everyone at home that he had stopped urinating. It was celebration and thanksgiving for the family who had hoped and prayed the boy would live a normal life at his age. Their joy was however short-lived when they discovered that his body started swelling. “About two weeks after, his head, hand and leg started swelling. We went back to LUTH. They gave some drugs and commenced tests to investigate what could have led to such sudden development. It was then they discovered that he had kidney problem.”
Back in the hospital bed, David was to undergo dialysis to help dislodge the excess fluid and waste stored in him that caused the swelling. It was then that the urologist called in his mother and gave them the shocker.
Worse case
“The doctor told us that his two kidneys had collapsed and can never be corrected. He made it clear that dialysis is not the solution but kidney transplant. He told us that it will cost millions of naira and that we are to travel to India as soon as possible for the surgery. It was devastating to hear that a boy of eight who had barely started life had lost his kidneys. I thank God for using the media especially The Sun Newspaper and Vanguard Newspaper to bring help our way. God used them to raise men and women from Nigeria and abroad. We got donations from London, US, churches especially my local church, the Assemblies of God Church, Ikate led by Rev S. A Osodipe. They continued in prayer interceding on his behalf.”
He was placed on dialysis thrice a week. Each dialysis costs between N35,000 and N50, 000. David remained a permanent guest at the hospital while his parents rallied round to raise up to N6m to foot the bill for a treatment in India.
Kidney search
Meanwhile his father immediately volunteered a kidney to save his son. To confirm his compatibility, his body specimen was sent to South Africa for analysis. “We paid N300,000 for this service because no hospital in Nigeria has the facility to conduct the test. The test certified my husband fit to donate the kidney.”
On November 4, they left for India with the much they could raise as David’s case was worsening. Their destination was the Forties Hospital in Delhi, India. On arrival; there was a waiting ambulance to drive them to the hospital. The urologist, Professor Anant Kumar and his team were handy to receive us. He brought my David close, touched his side and he screamed. He was immediately admitted, and he gave instructions that test should be conducted. Instantly, we saw the difference. We were made comfortable over a cup of tea while the lab technicians and doctors acted immediately. Results of lab test were produced in a matter of hours and drugs administered. They conducted about five surgeries to correct a lot that had been damaged in his body, as there were pores all over him. One of the surgeries was to expand his bladder to contain about 250ml of urine. We were told that the failure to correct the bladder when it was discovered caused the kidney collapse. This they explained was to prepare him for the main surgery which is the transplant.”
Another bad turn
While they waited for David to stabilize, his father was requested to repeat the compatibility test and the result showed that he cannot be the donor. Reason was that his sugar level was high and could affect the boy in future. “I had to undergo the same test and mine was okay, that was how I became the donor. At a point, we started running short of money after paying for series surgeries in preparation for the transplant. We went with $33,300. The hospital package for the transplant that involves spending between eight and 10 days in admission is $15,000 or $16,000. It could be more if there is a rejection of kidney by the body of the recipient or other complications.
Prior to the transplant, we spent $29,000 in effort to stabilize David, and we fell short of fund. Professor Kumar stopped collecting consultation fee and promised to talk to the management on our behalf, which he actually did. We had only $3000 and were expected to pay $15000 for the final surgery. After most of our sponsors especially a couple in US called to know how far we had gone, with the surgery, money started flowing in again. We were able to pay for the surgery, and it was successful.”
On our way back, the doctor handed us over to a female urologist who is currently handling his check up. David is expected to be on drugs for the rest of his life. Today, the family of Alban Opara are saying thank you to all who helped to save David’s life. We went and came back rejoicing. Initially we were panicky because of his state of health when we travelled but now he is okay.”
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mikemusic
almada
GOOD FOR THE OTHER COUNTRYS, COZ U NEED THEM. PROGRESS IS SLOW. ILL STAY WHERE I AM...
ajanni
chidear
Danidgr8
Mondialo
giftmurphy
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