1 month ago
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A call for help has gone to well-meaning Nigerians by a mother in Edo State, Isoken Etemini, whose two-year-old daughter, Mercy, is down with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease.
Etemini told South-South PUNCH that her daughter was diagnosed with the rare liver disease a few weeks after her birth, adding that she needed an additional $13,000 to add to the €10,000 an international agency in Germany has agreed to donate for the girl’s treatment.
The distraught mother said, “My baby girl, Mercy Etemini, was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare disease of the liver and bile duct that occurs in infants.
“My baby was born on September 14, 2022, successfully. A few weeks later, I noticed her eyes were yellowish and called the midwife where I delivered her. She told me to put her under the morning sun and give her glucose mixed with water to clear up the jaundice which I did not know. I did as instructed that morning.
“In the night, she began to bleed from her navel; we rushed her to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital. Unfortunately, we were rejected. According to a doctor, the children’s ward was already filled up.
“As directed by my midwife my sister, husband and I took her to a private hospital where they stitched up the navel and gave her injection, still the bleeding continued till the next day before it finally stopped.”
Mrs Etemini added that her baby was kept under the blue light for some days and was discharged,” but her eyes were still yellowish and we became more worried.”
She continued, “After some weeks, and without any sign of improvement, we took her to another private hospital, where she was treated, but there weren’t any changes to her eyes.
“I went back to UBTH, where some tests and scans were carried out on her and the result confirmed biliary atresia. I cried and was confused; I had never heard of it in my life.”
I was told it was late to carry out the Kasai operation, which would have been done in the early weeks of life. The only solution is a liver transplant outside Nigeria.
“Hospitals I have reached out to said is $21,000, excluding flight, accommodation and other expenses. An international foundation in Germany agreed to support her surgery with €10,000, but she still needs an additional $13,000 balance for the surgery, accommodation, visa, and flight.
“She doesn’t sleep well and is always crying because she also has an umbilical hernia and I give her analgesic to ease the pain. She is not growing well like other babies. At a year and five months, she is depreciating in weight, doesn’t crawl, stand, or walk and has an enlarged spleen, higher bilirubin, and itchy skin, which draws blood due to excess scratches.
“Biliary atresia is a rare deadly liver disease, and doctors have not been able to confirm the main cause of it. Please help me save my baby’s life. God bless you, Amen.”
