Life could not have been worse for two-year-old Derick Okwute. During the day, he could only hear the playful voices of his peers running around and imagine how fun it would have been joining them to explore life around him.

At night, he writhes in pain and cries until he loses the strength to do so and falls asleep.

In October 2021, he was diagnosed with obstructive hydrocephalus. But his father, Kenneth Ohanaga, told our correspondent Derick began to exhibit signs that he was not well when he was seven months old.

Okwute, a 31-year-old bricklayer in Ibiroko in the Bassa Local Government Area of Kogi State, told City Round his son’s head became enlarged at the age of one.

He lamented that his son had not been able to live a normal life like his peers in his neighbourhood as he cried often and hardly interacted with anyone.

“When he was born, he looked healthy and there was no problem. But after seven months, we noticed that he had a high temperature and his head began to swell just like that.

“No matter what we give him to eat, he looks malnourished and sick. He does not speak or play but cries. I contacted my father’s brother living in Kaduna and he told me to bring my son to Kaduna. He sent me some money and I went to Kaduna and took my son to a Catholic hospital.

“There, the doctors drained some liquid from his head and referred us to another hospital in the state that is run by the military. We were told that my son would have to undergo an operation. We ran many tests and they told us what was wrong with him.”

The result of a test carried out on the little boy by the radiology department of the Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, according to a document made available to City Round by his father, read in part, “There is gross dilatation of all the components of the ventricular systems, with marked thinning of the cerebral mantle. There is no focal mass or haemorrhage. There is right orbital pre-ceptal soft tissue swelling and also underlying frontal bone structure. Conclusion: Obstructive hydrocephalus, most likely at the level of the outflow recesses.”

Ohanaga, who appealed to Nigerians to come to his aid, said he could hardly raise the money needed to treat the child as he was struggling to make ends meet.

He said, “I am a bricklayer with two children – a girl and my son who is currently sick. We have spent over N130,000 so far to find a solution to the problem. A doctor told us it would cost at least N600,000 to treat my son.

“There is no joy in us. My wife can’t go out because all our attention is on the baby. It is difficult to also raise money to feed the family. Some people mock us, asking us what type of child we had; some told us our child was an evil spirit.

“But I was told my son is sick and that other kids also come down with the medical condition. I am appealing to Nigerians to help so that my son can undergo a surgical operation. I can’t raise the money, though I have been trying.”

Bank: Stanbic IBTC

Account name: Okwute Glory

Account number: 0023938903

(Saturday PUNCH)

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